As you wish
by notcreativeenoughtomakeone
Summary: Yumi doesn't believe in the saying 'be careful what you wish for'But after she accidently says,I wish you were dead, something bad happens to Ulrich.Is it a coincidence,or could something bigger be going on.UxY, warning,some chapters are brutal.
1. What's on channel five?

_**Good news to all of the people who read this. It's fixed! Typo free for the most part. It took me only two hours to do ti too. And as an added bonus I added a new chapter of stuff that was left out. There might be a typo here and there, but now it's about ninty eight percent perfect.**_

* * *

Yumi sat in her bed, reading a book when she heard a few pebbles hit her window. Closing her book she walked to her window then looked outside. It was fairly late that night, and a little foggy. The moon hung lifelessly in the sky making the fog on the ground glow in a silver shade of light. It was almost eerie. Looking down she saw a form through the fog, and focused her vision to try to found out what, or who she was looking at. The wind picked up a little and blew the fog off of the person standing below her window. 

" Ulrich?" Yumi asked after seeing it was him.

" Can we talk?" Ulrich asked her. Yumi nodded, though not like he could see her. Yumi really didn't want to talk to him, but then again it could be important. Looking at the gutter she scaled down the side of her house and dropped down next to Ulrich.

" What do you want?" Yumi asked him, crossing her arms and leaning against her house. She already knew what he wanted to talk about, but not hearing him out wasn't fair.

" I heard your dating William now," he began. Yumi shook her head, she was right.

" How did I know that was going to be the topic of this conversation? Ulrich, your too late, I won't dump him to be with you, we've been through this."

" Yumi listen.."

" No Ulrich. I'm tired of listening. All your doing is embarrassing yourself, and showing everyone how pathetic you are." Yumi continued to explain her reasoning, and Ulrich would try to cut in but Yumi would cut him off, then continue. After about ten minutes of arguing Ulrich shut up and just looked at her.

" What?" She asked, because of how awkward it was.

Ulrich tried to kiss her, and actually touched her lips before Yumi threw him back.

" What is the matter with you! Have you even been listening to me. I don't love you, I don't even really like you anymore. I wish you'd just... go and die or something!" Yumi didn't give him a chance to answer, before beginning to scale back up into her room. Ulrich watched her climb, and stood there for a minute before leaving.

Yumi sat in her room, and was letting out a few tears. ' Oh, I didn't mean that. But he'll have to learn somehow.' Then Yumi remembered what she had said.

" I wish you'd just die or something!" She didn't believe in wishes coming true. The words ' be careful what you wish for,' popped in her mind. " No, it was only a statement out of annoyance." Yumi shook her head. " Maybe I should call him and apologize." She grabbed her phone and stopped. " No, that'll just encourage him." Yumi sat on her bed and closed her eyes, not able to fall asleep. Opening her eyes she looked at her clock, midnight.

" Dammit Ulrich, I have a test tomorrow." Yumi managed to fall asleep a minute later, but the last thing she thought was the words, ' be careful what you wish for.'

* * *

Yumi had a dream that night. It boarder lined between nightmare and dream, herself later not able to decipher which. In the dream held Ulrich, Aelita, Jeremie, Odd, and herself. They were all hanging out, laughing, all the fun normal social friend stuff. As the dream progressed, Ulrich's body was getting black, and at the end of the dream he just wasn't there. He had vanished from her life, from everyone's life. 

Yumi saw herself walking through a cemetery. She was wearing a black dress, and saw an unpleasantly sad expression on her face. Yumi slowly walked through the cemetery and didn't seem to notice the clouds getting darker as she walked. It began to rain as she kept moving, carrying a handful of flowers in both hands. She came to a dusty grave and lay the flowers next to them. Taking her hand, she placed it on the headstone and wiped the dust off the headstone. Under the dust, engraved on the headstone was " _Here lies, Ulrich Stern_."

Yumi suddenly woke up, jolting up from her pillow. Her breathing was deep, and she was drenched in a cold sweat. Her nighttime hair bun and gone limp from the sweat and had dropped down to her shoulders. Trying to calm herself down she control her breathing while watching sweat drip off her nose. Taking her blanket she wiped the sweat off her face.

" Calm down Yumi, just a dream. He's just fine." It surprised her she had concern for Ulrich at this point. ' Even if I don't like him anymore, doesn't mean I don't care.' she told herself, thinking it the appropriate answer.

Her cell phone rang and she jumped. ' I seriously need to relax.' Yumi grabbed her phone and saw Jeremie was calling.

" Jeremie? What is it. Do you know what time it is?"

" Yumi," Jeremie began with a shaky voice. " Turn on your tv."

" What's wrong."

" Just do it." Yumi walked across her room and turned her tv on, turning down the volume so she wouldn't wake her family.

" What channel?" She asked, not knowing.

" Five." Yumi switched it to five and saw an aerial video feed of a traffic wreak. It looked pretty bad. Cars were crushed, but it didn't look like anyone was terribly injured. Yumi turned up the volume.

" As you can see, the fog is making it difficult for people to see, causing a large pileup on the moonlight, and silverlake intersection. The fog has caused a seven car pileup that in backing up traffic for about a quarter of a mile. No deaths have been reported, but a young boy was severally injured and has been rushed into intensive care."

The camera aimed at a boy being placed on a stretcher and pushed across the wreckage. Yumi looked carefully as the camera zoomed in. " We have just been told the identity of the boy to be a thirteen year old Ulrich Stern, a student at Kadic academy."

Yumi dropped her phone as a sentence popped into her mind. ' Be careful what you wish for.'


	2. I am crying

Yumi's phone hit the ground, the battery breaking off and bouncing away cutting off Jeremie who was still on the line. Looking at the tv, she saw Ulrich being put into an ambulance at the scene of the accident. His shirt was covered in blood, and his head was bloody as well. Ulrich's mouth was covered with a mask as he was being placed into the back of the ambulance, cutting off Yumi's view. The reporter began to talk again and Yumi turned up the volume, not caring at this point about waking her parents.

" The accident was said to have been caused by the fog. The young boy was crossing the street and the car didn't see him in time and the rest that followed was a domino affect," The helicopter camera looked at the wreckage as Yumi watched ambulance drive away. " We've just been told the boy has a slim chance." Yumi heard a bedroom door open and a few footsteps walk toward her door.

" Yumi, is that your tv?" her father asked, knocking on her door. After not receiving an answer he walked in with knocking. " Do you have any idea what time it is?" Yumi didn't look at him, she just kept her eyes on the tv. " Yumi are you even listening?" Her father looked at the tv and saw the news report about the accident.

" That's just a few blocks away, is that live?" Yumi nodded as the reporter began to recap on the accident, sending a picture of Ulrich's face on the tv screen.

" What's going on in here?" Hiroki asked, stepping into her room in his pajamas. " Oh Ulrich's on the tv. Is this a crime search?" Hiroki asked sarcastically, not noticing what it really was.

What he said seemed to really upset Yumi who shouted, " Shut up Hiroki!"

Mrs. Ishiyama walked in and said, " There is no yelling in this house young lady."

" Dear, watch the tv." Mr Ishiyama said to his wife. Mrs. Ishiyama saw the seriousness in his voice and walked to the tv and gasped when she saw Ulrich reported in critical condition. Yumi finally pulled herself away and went to pickup the pieces of her phone. Clicking the battery back in she saw she had three missed calls. Calling back Odd who had apparently called after Jeremie did, so she told Odd what Jeremie couldn't tell him.

Mr. Ishiyama took Hiroki back to his room and threatened him not to bring this up around his sister. Mr Ishiyama knew very well that Hiroki knew that it was upsetting his sister, so didn't want her to breakdown. Mrs. Ishiyama stayed with Yumi who just sat there, blaming herself. Like she caused the fog, and the accident, but she was thinking past the obvious points, and going into detail. If Ulrich hadn't left the school to talk to her, this would have never happened. Then again, not like she asked him to come over and complain about her new boyfriend.

The main reason she felt like she had to blame herself was the last thing she said to Ulrich before leaving. " I wish you would just...go and die or something." ' Why did I have to say that?' she asked herself, but it slipped out. Her mother heard her, but it was to low to understand.

" What?" her mother asked. Yumi shook her head, pretending she hadn't said anything, or at least meant to. Her mother shook it off and asked, " Do you want me to drive you to the hospital to check on him?"

" Mom, his chances of living are slim," she said to her, thinking he'd be dead before she got there.

" A better reason then. Better to find out now, than having to find out at a critical moment."

" Could you give the others a ride as well?" Her mother nodded, and left the room so Yumi could change into something not pajamas. She called the others who did the same. Mrs. Ishiyama called the school and asked them to get her friends out of school. Mr. Delmas called their parents to ask if they could leave campus to visit Ulrich in the hospital. Of course saying yes, then called Ulrich parents, who had already been called.

* * *

Mrs. Ishiyama and everyone else walked into the hospital as Yumi took the lead and sprinted to the information desk.

The man at the desk looked up at them, then asked, " Who are you here to see?"

" Ulrich Stern," Yumi answered quickly.

The man typed his name into the computer and said," He just arrived about twenty minutes ago. He's still in surgery."

" How bad is it?" Yumi asked, needing to know.

" Are you family?" Yumi shook her head, " Then I legally can't tell you."

Yumi leaned on the desk and looked the man in the eye. He watched as a tear rolled down her check. It was only one tear, but it had more emotion than any amount of tears. " Please. I have to know." The man looked at this scared girl and lowered his head.

" Alright." He typed in a few more things, then opened his condition. Yumi took her left hand and wiped the tear off her face and looked at the moisture on her hand. ' Am I crying?'

Reading it off once to himself he said, " Wow, that had to hurt."

" How bad?" Yumi asked, hoping not too bad.

" Basically the definition of bad. Broken arm and leg. Three broken ribs, fractured skull, internal bleeding. His heart has stopped three times already. Says here, life expectancy unknown at this point. Estimated surgery time, in the hours." Yumi lowered her head, a few more tears hitting the desk. ' I am crying.'


	3. And now we pray

Ulrich was pulled into the hospital with a stretcher and half a dozen frantic doctors. They had already cut his shirt off to check his vitals closer.

" I need a team of surgeons now!" One doctor shouted as one broke off with the formation to fulfill the order. " What're his vitals?"

" Low and dropping fast." Another doctor answered, monitoring his heartbeat that was fading. They pulled the stretcher into a room that was being prepped for surgery. Looking at the monitor, his pulse flat lined and let out a solid beep. " He flat lined!"

" Dammit!" The first doctor shouted, who ran across the room and rolled the defibrillator over to Ulrich's bed. Taking out a gel like substance he smeared it on the pads, set the voltage and shouted, " Clear!" The voltage shot through Ulrich's body, and the doctor monitored his vitals. Nothing. Setting the voltage higher he rubbed the pads together and shouted, " Clear!" Ulrich's nervous system sent him up by his chest, then back onto the bed. Nothing.

" He's gone," One of the doctors said. The others doctor hadn't given up and set the voltage a little higher. " He's gone," he said to the other doctor.

" Just one more try," The doctor said, placing the pads on Ulrich's chest. " Clear!" Ulrich's body shot up again, then he fell back to the table. His heart monitor began to rise out of the flat line and he let out a sigh in relief. " We need to keep him stable."

Before surgery could get underway, Ulrich's heart failed two more times. Surgery began after an hour of trying to keep him stable enough to operate. When he finally was, it went underway. After stopping the internal bleeding, they cleaned him out and began to pump blood into him because of the blood loss. The doctors put is right leg and arm in a cast, then began to fix the blow to his head. It was a small fracture that they wouldn't see the affects until he woke up. If he did.

* * *

Yumi and the others sat in the waiting room and watched the clock. One hour, two hours, the longest time in Yumi's life. A few times she'd pace around the room, then sit back down for a few minutes, then start over again. Hour three went by and Aelita fell asleep leaning on Odd who was apparently more comfortable than Jeremie. After a full fifteen minutes in the third hour, Yumi stopped pacing and sat on the couch. Yumi lay back, then closed her eyes for a second, falling asleep.

Yumi had the same dream. She saw herself walking through the cemetery to place flowers on Ulrich's grave. She saw herself crying again, this time a little more. An hour later Jeremie nudged her awake. Yumi opened her teary eyes, and looked at Jeremie.

" Anything?" Jeremie shook his head.

" Are you crying?" He asked her. Yumi lay up and began to quickly wipe the tears off of her face.

" No," she lied, a little embarrassed.

" You were crying. That's a first."

" Fine. I was, big deal."

" Your dating William, but you love Ulrich." Yumi looked at him. She knew he wouldn't drop this.

" I don't love Ulrich."

" Then why are you crying?" Jeremie asked.

" Look. Because I don't love him, doesn't mean I want him to die. I'm just worried," Yumi said to him. Suddenly she felt like a hypocrite remembering saying, ' Just go and die.' Yumi lay back down and said, " Wake me up if something happens." Jeremie nodded and sat back on his chair and looked at Odd and Aelita. He hated to admit it, but they looked cute.

Three hours later Yumi felt a nudged on her arm as she woke up crying again. That dream was really starting to eat her emotions. It was the man at the information desk kneeling next to her.

" Umm miss. I have some news about your friend." Suddenly Yumi was fully awake and aware. Looking around the room she saw that the others were gone already, and that someone had placed a blanket over her. " Your friends left for school and didn't feel like they should wake you." That was nice of them.

" Well. Is he gonna be alight?" Yumi begged, more than asked.

" It's questionable at this point. Surgery is done finally, but he's still slim at best. I was told he was lucky to get into surgery with his heart failure."

" Give me a percent of living." Yumi asked, wanting a good estimation.

" I'd wager about, ten maybe. If he survives till the next morning, he has a much better chance. For now, well you better start praying." Yumi nodded and the man walked away. Least there was chance. Looking at the clock she saw that she'd been here for nearly six hours. Reaching into her pocket, she sent the others a text saying, ' he has a chance.'

After another hour of waiting, Ulrich was permitted to have visitors, so Yumi went into his room. The first look at Ulrich almost made her start crying. What a mess. His head was wrapped in a bandage, he's arm and leg in a cast, and a scar running down his chest, and another at his stomach. Several liquid medications were being pumped into him, as well as a blood pack. Yumi looked at the blood pack and smiled weakly. They had the same blood type. Sitting on the chair next to his bed she looked at his face. His hair was gone because they shaved his head to operate on it, so playing with his hair wasn't going to work.

Looking at his heart monitor she saw that it was fairly low and not going up. But at least it wasn't getting lower. Grabbing his hand, she felt that it was cold and limp, and suddenly felt more concerned.

" I'm sorry," she said to him. " I never meant that."

" He's asleep kid," said a mans voice from the door. Yumi turned around and was looking at a medium height man with black hair, good build, and long hair. His right eye was blue, but his left eye was green. He was wearing a skin tight plain black shirt and light blue jeans that the shirt was tucked into.

" I know he is Zack, just trying to get something off my chest without actually saying it," Yumi said to him.

" Practicing huh. What are you responsible for this?" Zack asked stepping into the room. " Thanks for not calling me by my real name."

" Your still getting adjusted to this world."

" It's been almost a year. I gotta tell ya, I love the five senses. Especially smell." Zack inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. " So many things to smell. Then I like taste and touch."

" Nice to see your enjoying your new human state."

" I'm loving it. I'm just amazed we managed to come to an agreement. There are good and bad things about being human. Good, smelling, god I love smelling. Bad, sorting emotions. Like what your doing right now."

" What do you mean?"

" I'm saying kid, that your not sure if you love him or not, but you know that you need to make up your mind on it."

" I don't love him Zack. I'm Just here because I said something a little harsh to him before this happened," she said, because it seemed everyone was teasing her.

" And what would that be?" Zack asked her.

" We got into a small argument and I said I wished he was dead. Then...boom, it happened."

" Be careful what you wish for, it just might come true. Isn't that a saying you humans usually use for something like that?" Yumi nodded and Zack checked his watch, " Well I need to go, I was just stopping by. If you ask me, he'll live."

" How do you know?" Yumi asked him.

" Because you're here with him." Yumi smiled and Zack walked to the door. " See you kid, I have work, another bad human thing." Yumi managed a smile as Zack left the room.

" Hard to believe you were once xana Zack."


	4. Trust

Yumi sat there, thinking about how xana became Zack. It still confused her that they managed to do it. They ended the fight, but xana was free. Xana was free, but he didn't want anything but to not be in the computer. It was mutual agreement that worked out, and both stayed out of each others lives. Leaning back into her chair, Yumi began to remember the details.

* * *

_**Almost a year ago...**_

Jeremie was sitting in the revolving chair starring at the computer screen in the lab. Aelita was looking over his shoulder while the others just hung around waiting for some action. It had been nearly a month since they managed to get xana back into the computer, but now they couldn't shut it off. Xana destroyed the switch, and now it was like old times again. The power hungry computer virus was active in lyoko, and Jeremie was trying to figure out what the numbers meant.

Xana hadn't activated a tower since they beat him, but he wasn't not doing nothing. Jeremie had came up with this so far, that what he was planning involved a dna code, and the scanners. With their history, it didn't mean anything good to any of them. While he was watching xana, Jeremie was also trying to find a way to shut the computer down internally, but couldn't figure that out without sacrificing someone. They'd be in the computer to shut it down, and it would shut off with them.

Turning the chair around he looked at everyone and said, " I can't figure it out." It shocked everyone. Jeremie the genius not having the answer. " It's too complicated. There is no way to shut it down without killing one of us. No volunteers for this, we started this together, we finish together." Everyone nodded.

" Did you at least figure out what xana has been up to?" Aelita asked.

" No not really. It looks like he's trying to make a materialization program for something extremely complicated. What could it be, I don't know."

" I"m trying to materialize myself you twit," said a voice from behind Jeremie. Everyone jumped and turned to face the screen. They waited for it to speak again.

" Umm..Hello?" Jeremie asked the computer.It was silent, and Jeremie leaned in closer.

Jeremie leaned in a little closer then the computer shouted, " BOO!." Jeremie jumped back and the computer laughed. " Got you. Now before you ask, this is xana, yes thee xana." Everyone looked at each other then the screen again.

" Look, I've been trying to make a materialization program for myself so I can finally be free of this retched prison."

" Why would you tell us that?" Aelita asked the computer, who had a slightly animated accent.

" Because I need your help." Everyone looked at each other again. " Say what you wish about that, but I do. I can't complete it without a dna sample from one of you."

" Why would we help you, you've never helped us." Yumi said to him.

" Yes I have. Don't you recall Jeremie's little marabounta experiment. If it weren't for me, Aelita would be blob food, and my home would be in their stomachs." Xana responded with some irritation. " Our history together says don't trust me, I understand that. But if you help me, we'll both get what we want."

" And what's that?" Ulrich asked.

" Well Ulrich, this fight ends I get to leave the computer. Look I've tried taking it by force, but the world is too difficult to obtain. So I've decided to just simply leave the computer, and live as a human. An average everyday human."

" So you can kill us?" Odd asked.

" No. I just want freedom, and you want peace and quiet, to be children again. You help me, I'll help you by ending this fight once and for all and we can all get back to our lives. Trust me and this is over, or don't trust me, and the wheels keep turning till one, or all of us are dead. I leave the decision to you."

Jeremie looked at everyone who looked back at him. It was usually him who made the decisions. Jeremie looked back at the screen and said, " We need time to think."

" Take however long you need, just hurry before you annoy me." His voice vanished throughout the room and everything went quiet.

" What are doing Jeremie?" Yumi asked. Jeremie spun the chair around and shrugged. " Can we trust him?"

" Yumi, it's xana. It's like trusting Odd to not eat your food when your away from it." Ulrich said to him.

" One time Ulrich. One time I ate your cupcake and you still won't drop it." Odd said in his defence.

" Guys who cares about a cupcake?" Aelita asked. " We need to make a decision. I think we can trust him." Everyone looked at her in disbelief.

" Are you sure?" Jeremie asked her.

" I do, we can trust him. Our history is bad, but xana is desperate now, so are we. If we can learn to trust each other, then maybe was can get through this together without fighting."

" I say no. He's xana, Xana, wake up Aelita." Ulrich said to her.

" We'll vote on it. Who's for not trusting xana?" Ulrich and Yumi raised their hands high. " Who's for trusting him?" Aelita, Odd, and Jeremie raised their hands.

" Odd?" Ulrich complained.

" What, I had to pick a side right." Ulrich shook his head.

" Call him back and tell him. I'll be in my room you idiots."

" I'll go with you." Yumi said and the two began to walk toward the elevator. The door shut and they were gone, not wanting any part of this. Jeremie spun the chair around and looked at the screen.

" Xana, we've decided."

" Good, what shall it be?"

" We'll help you. Tell us what you need to complete it."

If they could see xana's face, he'd be smiling. " Great. Now all I need is a dna sample, from two people. A stand of hair will do nicely. Not just any two people."

" Who do you have in mind? And why two?" Aelita asked.

" Because if I take one dna sample, I'll look like whoever the donator was. So if I take two, I can mix and match traits and physical appearance."

" That makes since. You want to be unique."

" Just like a human. Now the people I want it from are Ulrich and Yumi."

" Why them?" Odd asked almost offended from not being liked enough to use.

" They are the strongest of you five. They are also the two most different people between the group, thus more room for fun with the experiment. Place a piece of their hair in the scanner and send the genetic code to me so I can decipher it, pick my favorites, and then create my own human body."

" One problem. They don't trust you." Jeremie said to him.

" Then steal a strand of hair, or convince them, either way it's them or no one." Jeremie nodded and xana stopped talking. Jeremie stood up off the chair and looked at Odd and Aelita. They knew it would be hard to get a strand of hair.

* * *

Ulrich and Yumi were sitting on the courtyard bench, waiting for the others the next day. Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita knew they had to steal a strand of hair. They weren't going to convince them to trust xana anytime soon. Ulrich and Yumi were sitting close, but not close enough to reveal something between them. Jeremie sat down where he usually would, and Odd stood behind Ulrich and Yumi. Aelita sat in between them, the only seat that was left and everyone greeted each other.

Jeremie made a gesture to Odd who took out a pair of scissors and took a step toward Ulrich. Ulrich turned around and Odd hid the scissors and smiled. He shrugged and turned back around and Odd pulled the scissors out and began to reach for his hair. He cut of a decently large strand hanging out of place with the rest of it, and quickly put the hair in his pocket. Yumi was going to turn around, but Jeremie and Aelita kept the attention on them.

Odd took a deep breathe and moved toward Yumi with the scissors. Sweat formed on his forehead as he reached out to cut her hair. Swearing to himself when he saw that it was perfectly flattened, not a strand out of place. He had no choice but to cut more than one strand. Slowly reaching out he placed the scissors on her hair and was about to squeeze when Yumi felt her hair move, and began to turned around. Aelita knew he just needed an extra second, so quickly grabbed Jeremie's checks, and pulled his lips to hers. Yumi jumped back slightly in surprise and Odd had the hair.

The bell rang and after the shock from the kiss was over, Yumi and Ulrich walked off as the others stayed behind. Aelita shook off the kiss and looked to Odd who had the scissors in one hand and the hair in the other.

" Did you get it?" She asked him.

Odd nodded with a smile at his accomplishment. Then he opened his hand to show the others and panicked. " That's a lot of hair, most of over cut when she jumped."

" Think she'll notice?" Jeremie asked.

" She's a woman and we're talking about her hair, of course she'll notice." Odd turned around and saw the back of Yumi's head as she walked away. He snickered, trying to hold back a loud laugh. " She's going to have a fun day."

* * *

The three went to the lab and inserted the hair into the scanner for xana. An hour later he said it had worked, and he'd be materializing himself within minutes. A few minutes later the doors to the scanner opened and a man walked out. He had black hair, good build, and an eye that was colored different than the other. Taking his first breath, xana stepped out and examined himself. Xana was a human being now.

Yumi found out about her hair an hour later, but didn't find out it was Odd until much later. When she found out they had helped xana and that he was out, she got nervous. Was it a trick to kill them and get himself out of the computer? Jeremie thought he would keep up his end of the deal, and he did. Xana used the computer to make himself twenty five years of fake information, and left them. A month later they simply destroyed the lab, thinking it best, Yumi or Ulrich still not trusting his motives.

* * *

_**Present time...**_

Yumi looked at her watch and saw that it was about time for her to go home. She didn't want to leave Ulrich like this, but she had to. Standing up she said a silent goodbye and got halfway to the door before deciding to add something. Walking over to him again, she leaned down and kiss him on the cheek, only because his lips had an oxygen mask over them. She didn't want him any more or less now that he was on the verge of death, she just thought for everything he had done for her in the past, she at least owed him that.


	5. People do care

Yumi got to her house that afternoon and walked in, sitting on the couch and laying on it. Exhaling deeply she heard her cell phone rang, so pulled it out of her pocket and look at it. Her cell phones screen said William was calling, so she hit answer.

" Yeah William?" She asked, tired.

" Where have you been all day?" William asked, a little worried and a little annoyed.

" I've been at the hospital all day. Ulrich was in an accident." She answered.

" We were supposed to hang out after school today," William said, as if he didn't hear the part about Ulrich. Or care.

" Something came up okay. Ulrich is pretty hurt."

" I bet he's fine. Why do you care?" William asked her, wanting to know.

Yumi was offended by that. " If you really must know William, Ulrich is not just fine. His doctors don't even know if he'll live through this. The reason I care is because Ulrich has always been there for me, even when I wasn't there for him."

" I'm always there for you." William said, thinking of possibly the most cliche thing he could think of.

" Whatever William." Yumi hung up her phone and turned it off. He tried calling her back, but he only got her voice mail. Looking at her watch again she saw that it was almost ten, and she was tired so decided to go to bed early. Stepping into her room she saw a binder from school was on her bed, Jeremie taking her notes for her. Throwing the binder to the side she sat on her bed, then lay on it and closing her eyes, not bothering to change into pajamas.

That night she had another dream. It was different from the others, this time she didn't see herself walking through a cemetery to place flowers on Ulrich's grave, she saw Ulrich. It was foggy outside. So foggy, it was hard to see five feet in front of you. Ulrich seemed flustered, angry, and sad. Something had just happened to him, and he was trying to walk it off. Then he stopped moving, then looked at the street sign that was close enough to see. Moon light, silverlake intersection. Yumi saw his mouth move, but didn't hear anything as he began to walked across the street. It was strange, because there was absolutely no sound.

Looking to his left the next thing he saw was two bright lights piercing through the fog. They broke through and Ulrich didn't have time to make an attempted to get around the car before it hit him. Ulrich hit the windshield as the car hit it's brakes, sending him off the car and flying into oncoming traffic. He hit his back on another cars windshield, which began to brake. Ulrich flew up and hit top of the car, then rolled off it and hit the pavement. The car behind the one he just hit its brakes as Yumi watched as the car came close. The moment before it hit, she woke up.

Yumi woke up and shouted, " Ulrich!" on the top of her lungs. Breathing deep, sweat and tears falling again, she waited for herself to calm down."Oh god. These dreams are killing me."

" Yumi, are you okay?" Her mother asked, walking in. Yumi turned away and wiped the tears out of her eyes before looking back at her mother.

" I'm fine. Just a nightmare."

" Just a nightmare. Yumi you've never screamed awake. What's wrong?" Yumi looked at her mother who sat on her bed and waited for a reply. Her mother was someone Yumi could tell anything to. No matter what it was, or how bad it was. She'd always listen, and never judge.

" I'm really worried about Ulrich. This was, sorta my fault?"

" How is that?"

" Last night he came over here, trying to convince me to break up with William and date him. He'd been trying to build the courage for awhile, but never did. I told him off, and when I did, something I didn't mean slipped out." Yumi said to her mother.

" What did you say?"

" I told him I wished he'd go and die. I didn't mean it, but I was irritated by him. Then the accident happened an hour later, and now..." Yumi didn't care if anyone saw her cry now. Her mother was fairly good at making her daughter express emotions.

" Now he might die. I don't want him to. I don't hate him, I don't want him to die." Yumi said, crying into her mothers arms. Her mother held her for a minute, then pushed her back up and looked at her face.

" Yumi, this isn't your fault. It was an accident, okay. Don't be hard on yourself. And don't worry, he won't die, because your more than enough motivation to live." Yumi smiled at her and continued to cry into her shoulder. Now go back to sleep, and try to relax. He'll be just fine." Mrs. Ishiyama kissed Yumi's forehead and left the room. Yumi looked at herself in the mirror, and noticed she looked like a mess.

" Umm, Yumi?" Said a hushed voice from her door. Yumi turned around and saw Hiroki at her door in his pajamas.

" What Hiroki?" Yumi asked.

" What's going on with Ulrich, mom or dad won't tell me. Is he dying?" Hiroki asked, sounding like he cared.

" We don't know yet, but he might." Hiroki lowered his head, and began to cry some. " Hiroki are you crying?"

Hiroki put his head up and nodded. " Why is Ulrich going to die." Yumi walked across the room and wrapped her arms around her brother. " Why?"

" It was a bad accident, that's all. Wrong place at the wrong time," Yumi told him, not wanting to say she in part blamed herself. " But I don't think he'll die." Hiroki nodded in approval, he wanted him to live. " I thought you thought he was dork."

" Well, I like anyone who makes you happy." Yumi looked at him. " Ulrich's makes you happy. He's not that bad. Not as bad as that William kid, he's the real dork, not to mention kinda stupid." Yumi giggled and gave Hiroki a hug.

" Go back to sleep okay. Ulrich will be just fine." Hiroki nodded and left her room, closing the door behind him. ' He'll be just fine.' " Let's hope I'm right."

* * *

Yumi walked into the hospital after school that day and began to walk to Ulrich's room. Taking the elevator to the third floor she stepped into his hallway and turned left. Following the numbers she stepped into his room that had an empty bed. At first she thought the worse and held back tears.

A nurse walked by and Yumi asked, " Where's Ulrich Stern?"

" Mr. Stern was moved back into intensive care. He had another heart relapse," The nurse said, trying to make it sound not as bad as it was.

" Is he alright?" Yumi asked, desperately needed some good news right now.

" We stabilized him again about an hour ago. But we'll have to keep him on close observation for the rest of the week."

" Is it possible for me to visit him." The nurse shook her head.

" No sorry. Only family members are allowed at this point." Yumi nodded in understanding and the nurse walked away after saying, " Sorry." Yumi stepped back into the hall and boarded the elevator, taking it back to the main lobby. When she was almost to the door, and frantic man and woman ran past her to the information desk. The man looked familiar so she walked back, slowly following them.

" Who are you here to see?" The man at the desk asked the couple.

" Ulrich Stern," said the man. " He's our son. What's his condition?" The man pulled open the diagnosis and read it once before reading it to them.

" Bad, but improving. He has a broken arm and leg, broken ribs, fractured skull, and has already had four heart failures and was recently moved back into intensive care. You may see him if you wish."

" Excuse me?" Mr and Mrs. Stern turned around and were looking at Yumi. " Are you Ulrich's parents?" They both nodded.

" Do you know Ulrich?" Mrs. Stern asked her.

Yumi nodded and answered, " Yes. I'm one of his friends. I came to visit but when they moved him to intensive care, they moved my ability to visit him."

" What is your name?" Mr. Stern asked, thinking he remembered Ulrich describing this girl before.

" Yumi Ishiyama."

" I thought so. Come with us, they'll let you through if you have our permission."

" Thank you." Mr. Stern nodded and the three boarded the elevator and began to make their way to Ulrich's new room.

The elevator started up to the third floor and Mrs. Stern looked at Yumi and asked, " So Yumi, what is your relationship with our son?"

" Do be honest, I'm not really sure," Yumi answered.

" What do you mean not sure?" Mr. Stern asked.

" I'm saying it's complicated," she said, not really comfortable with this conversation.

" How so. Are you dating, were dating, best friends who want to date?"

" I don't know. We've never dated, but it is common knowledge at Kadic that we kinda want to, but he's to emotionally shut to admit it."

" Sounds like Ulrich." Mrs. Stern said with a small giggle, then a sigh remembering why she was here. " How long have you known him for?"

" A few years. Not sure on the exact time, but about three." The elevator opened and the three stepped off and followed the room numbers to find Ulrich's. Turning right they stepped into a room to see Ulrich in a new bed. He was hooked onto a few more machines now, more pieces of equipment monitoring him. The three stopped when they saw a raven haired man sitting next to him.

" Hey Zack," Yumi said to him as she walked in.

" Hey kid. Take it they're the Sterns," Zack said looking at the adults.

" Who are you?" Mr. Stern asked. " Why are you here?"

" I'm Zachary Lyoko. I'm one of Ulrich's friends. I was there when he had another relapse, so I was allowed to follow him for some odd reason." Mr. Stern looked at Zack questioningly.

" How do you know Ulrich?"

" I work for a computer company and I had to do a demonstration for the students. Ulrich and his friends gave me a little help with that, and we talked for awhile, and when I heard he was in the hospital I had to check on him." Zack looked down at Ulrich. " The kids a fighter. Anyone else would be dead by now. Must have a pretty strong attachment to the living to have that will to survive." Yumi knew he was talked about her, so moved her face away so they wouldn't see her blush.

" Always was a fighter Zachary. Would you mind if we have some time alone with our son?" Yumi and Zack shook their heads and left the room, setting on chairs outside the door.

" Where you really here when he relapsed?" Yumi asked.

" Who do you think called the nurse?" Zack asked her sarcastically. " I had spare time so decided to check in on him." Zack opened a pack of gum and offered Yumi a piece who shook her head, " I love gum. You feeling any better?"

" No," Yumi answered honestly. " I'm still having nightmares every time I close my eyes. There isn't anything out there that doesn't remind me of him."

" It wasn't your fault. It was a figure of speech not intended to harm anyone. You were just a little mad at him and it slipped out through the anger." Zack told her.

" Thanks. I know, but, I still feel guilty." Yumi lowered her head and took a breath. " Why do you care though?"

" I have to. After all technically saying Ulrich is my father, and you're my mother. It isn't entirely true, but genetically it is. I have Ulrich's physical form, your hair, his nose, your ears, his head shape, but the eyes I'm not sure."

" I was wondering about that. I guess you missed a gene."

" Guess so. But hey, it got me a few dates, so I don't mind that much. People either think it's creepy, or cool. Which is both equally entertaining." Zack looked at his watched, stood up and said, " Well I need to go. If anything happens call me okay?" Zack handed her a sheet of paper that had a number on it.

" No problem xana."

" It's Zack."

" I know. I'm making sure I don't forget who you once were."

" Fair enough. See you later."

" Bye Zack." Zack walked away as Yumi looked back into the room and Mrs. Stern was looking at her son in tears. Mr. Stern stood there, looking at his son in concern. Ulrich was covered in bandages and bruises. An oxygen mask was still over his face, but his hair was starting to grow back.

Thinking about everyone she had talked to recently, she said, " Nice to know so many care about him."


	6. Playing opossum

Yumi and the others visited Ulrich regularly throughout the next week. Ulrich's parents telling the hospital they were allowed to. His condition didn't get worse, but they kept him in intensive care for that week. Yumi's relationship with William wasn't going well with the amount of times she was visiting Ulrich. After a week of his annoyance, she dumped him. If he couldn't understand how much she cared about her friends, then forget him, Yumi said to herself. After the break up Yumi went to Ulrich, and laughed.

" I said I wouldn't break up with him for you. Turns out I did." Yumi said to Ulrich was still hadn't woken up yet.

Ulrich wasn't in a coma. The doctors said that the accident had caused him so much pain, waking him up would be torture. He was to be medicated to stay asleep for a large portion of his recovery, which was now predicted to be a full one. Everyone Ulrich knew let out a giant sigh of relief when they heard the news. Ulrich was going to live. When Yumi got home that night, she was so happy, she cried. For a week she'd been crying, waking up from nightmares, and now she was crying with a smile on her face.

A week after he was said to live, Yumi and everyone else went to the hospital to be there when they woke him up. Jeremie, Odd, Aelita, Yumi, Zack, and Ulrich's parents were around his bed as the doctor injected a liquid that would wake him up. They saw his arms and leg twitch, his eyelids move, slowly opening. The first thing he saw was the light above him. He moved his hands to cover the light, but it was hard to move it.

" Where am I?" Ulrich asked no one in particular.

" Your in the hospital Ulrich. Welcome back," Yumi said to him. Ulrich looked up and saw her, then everyone else around him. Everyone was smiling, but he wasn't. " How do you feel?"

" Who are you people?" Ulrich asked them. Everyone looked at each other confused. " Where am, why am I here?" Ulrich shouted trying to get up.

" Ulrich you need to stay in bed," Yumi said to him trying to push him back down. Ulrich grabbed her wrists and threw back hard enough to make her fall to the floor. " Ulrich stop."

Ulrich looked around his body and at the many needles and casts around it. " What he hell happened! Get away from me!"

" We've lost him," Zack said to everyone. Zack walked over to the nurse call button and called a nurse. A nurse ran in a second later and saw Ulrich screaming and trying to get up.

" Help me hold him down." Zack and Mr. Stern helped as the nurse injected another liquid into him that made him sleep. Ulrich was still screaming and kicking when the medicine began to work and he slowly drifted into sleep. Zack and Mr. Stern looked at Yumi who was still on the ground.

" You okay kid?" Zack asked. Yumi wasn't okay. Ulrich had attacked her. Attacked her like he didn't even know who she was. He was acting like he didn't know any of them. Not even his parents. Not even Yumi. " He might have amnesia from the blow to the head."

" We'll need an MRI to find the seriousness of it," The nurse said to everyone. " I'll alert a doctor about this."

Yumi, Zack and the Sterns waited for the test results in a waiting room. A doctor came in with the results telling them he had indeed developed a form of amnesia. He had traumatic amnesia, which length depended on how hard he was hit in the head. The doctors predicted about a month to regain his full memory.

Yumi was sitting in her room after the incident. Ulrich had left a bruise on her wrists, but she didn't really care. Taking her left finger she ran it down her wrists to the small bruises that Ulrich had left. The next day at school she wore a long sleeved shirt so no one would see them and immediately think the wrong the thing. When she'd cross paths with William he'd try to step in front of her to talk to her, but she'd side step him and leave. William tried meeting her at her locker, but she had started to carry all of her books with her.

* * *

Two days after the incident Yumi went to the hospital to see Ulrich. He was awake when she looked around the corner. Ulrich's mother was talking to him, his father out to get some food. It seemed after his fear from waking up was over, he had never forgotten his parents. He hadn't forgotten that far back, but Yumi and his friends were recent enough to forget.

" I see you." Ulrich said to Yumi when he looked toward the door.

Yumi walked into the room as the two just looked at each other. Ulrich seemed better now. Much calmer than before. The doctors and his parents had told him about the accident and he understood. Standing at the foot of the bed Yumi looked at him and gave a half smile, not sure if he was safe to be around him yet.

" I'm not going to hurt you. Sorry about before." Ulrich said to her.

" It's okay," Yumi said to him. She walked around the bed and sat on the chair next to Mrs. Stern.

" Mom, do you mind if we talk alone." Mrs. Stern shook her head and left the room, leaving Yumi and Ulrich alone. " Are you okay?"

" Just a small bruise, no biggy."

" Sorry if I scared you, I just can't remember what happened."

" It'll come back eventually. How do you feel?" Yumi asked, making sure his physical form was okay as well.

" I don't feel any of the pain, but I can't move much either."

" Least it's painless." Ulrich nodded in agreement. " What do you remember?"

" Nothing really. How do I know you?" Ulrich asked Yumi, knowing that if she was here, he knew her in some way. " Are you my friend?"

" You can say that. I'm Yumi Ishiyama." Yumi said extending her arm so he could shake it. Ulrich shook it. " Nice to meet you, again." Ulrich chuckled, then stopped, noticing it kinda hurt to laugh. " You okay?"

" It hurts to laugh, cough, sneeze, this sucks."

" Well you were hit by a car that was going quite fast I must add. Your lucky to be alive."

" It's what I've been told."

Yumi and Ulrich spoke for a few hours talking about how they knew each other, and events that involved that. She kept out the lyoko part, just to be safe. As she was talking, Ulrich would remember little parts at a time. In a single afternoon he had remembered a rather awkward day with her. He told her what he remembered, and she looked away and blushed. She asked him to keep thinking about remembering and then left him with a small kiss on the cheek.

The next day Yumi stepped into his room that had been changed since two days before they woke him up. It was the room he was occupying before, and Yumi liked this room better. It felt like his visit to the hospital wasn't as severe. Looking in she saw that he was asleep, and he was also alone. Walking over to him she whispered his name, but he didn't wake up. She was going to try again, before a thought she found interesting made her think why she thought that thought. She thought what it would be like to kiss him right now.

Yumi's first thought was, ' okay, why am I thinking this?' She looked at Ulrich's face, then his lips. ' why are they so tempting?' His hair was coming back fairly fast, it had already reached the top of his forehead. Yumi reached out her hand and stroked Ulrich's hair, giving her something to distract herself from doing what she wanted to. Looking at his lips again, she looked around the room, then at the door.

' One kiss.' She sat up and leaned down over his head, lowing hers. Puckering up she closed her eyes, their lips making contact. Keeping the kiss longer than she intended, she slowly rose up and said, " That was pretty good actually."

" Thanks," Ulrich said with his eyes still shut. Yumi turned red then looked down as he opened his eyes. " I was awake the entire time, it was so hard to not laugh while you played with my hair."

" You little bastard," Yumi said with a laugh. She was embarrassed of course, but she found it rather funny. " Why were you playing opossum?"

" Boredom really. I tried remembering a little more, and I remembering something."

" What do you remember?" Yumi asked excited.

" I remember something I said before I began to cross the street. It's confusing me, but I remember."

" What did you say?"

" When I was about to cross the street, the fog was thick. I stepped into the road and was hit. But I remember it took me awhile to start crossing , not sure what I was waiting for, but I did cross at the wrong time."

" What did you say?"

" Before I crossed the street, I closed my eyes and whispered three words. Before stepping into the street and into the hospital, I said, ' As you wish.'"


	7. Got any threes?

**_Wow, I got a lot of reviews from that last chapter, 16 reviews. Thanks everyone, and enjoy the next one. notcreativeenoughtomakeone I'd add spaces but the pen name had limited amount of slots._**

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" What did you say?" Yumi asked him again, making sure see heard that right.

" As you wish. Yeah I know it's weird. Why would I say that," Ulrich answered. Yumi froze solid. She was starting to feel better about this ' not ' being her fault. ' As you wish,' Yumi said again in her mind. He answered her wish that she never wanted to make. It wasn't an accident. Ulrich stepped in front of the car to fulfill Yumi's wish. Ulrich had tried to kill himself.

" You okay Yumi?"

Yumi didn't hear him at first but snap back to reality and looked at him, " Huh?"

" You okay?"

" Oh, I'm fine," lied Yumi.

" Do you have any idea why I would have said that?" Ulrich asked.

Yumi looked at him, thinking whether or not she should tell him. ' The night of the accident I told you I wished you just go and die, so you did.' Yumi said in her head instead of to him. She wanted to tell him. She had to tell him. " I don't know." Yumi said to him. ' Dammit Yumi.'

" Oh well, another mystery. Until I get my memory back." Yumi had forgotten his memory loss was temporary. He'd eventually remember, then what. Would he try it again? Yumi sat back down. ' I just stay with him till then.'

" Until then, I'll just lean back, and watch this crap they play on the tv twenty four seven," he said, continuing to watch some crappy soap opera in french.

Through the next week, Ulrich was remembering a few new things. He remembered the events in lyoko after two weeks, giving their conversations a little more topic to talk about. They laughed at a few things, and would blush and look away from a few others. Yumi was liking this actually. Because Ulrich had his memory gone, he needed to talk more to get it back, something he didn't do very often. He was more open with her, something Yumi always wanted from him.

Ulrich was starting to remember his emotions toward everyone, especially Yumi. Remembering he was usually nervous around her, made him laugh because since he woke up, he wasn't. It was like talking to nice stranger. Now that he knew his emotions, and compared them to the ones before the accident. He was open, but not nervous. It surprised Yumi things they were able to talk about. They didn't express love or stuff like that, but things the two normally wouldn't talk about.

The entire time, Yumi was trying to think of a way to tell him. She was trying to tell him why he had said those words. How would he react? Would he even react? Right now it seemed anything could be said to him. It seemed he hadn't remembered the details from that night yet, but when he did, Yumi figured she'd notice.

It was a month after Ulrich had woken up. Most of his memory was back, except the memory of the accident. Ulrich was finally permitted to leave his bed, and Yumi pushed his wheelchair around the hospital for him. Ulrich loved getting some fresh air for a change, and Yumi enjoyed having more to do with him. They would roll his chair through the courtyard of the hospital. The others visited as well, usually all at once. Sissi had noticed he was gone, and had visited a few times, but the entire time Ulrich would pretend to be asleep till she left.

* * *

Yumi walked into the room to see Ulrich in his bed, playing go fish with Zack. " Got any fours?" Zack asked Ulrich.

" Go fish?" Zack groaned and grabbed another card, him having nine now. Seeing he had pulled a card that completed a pair he put them down, waiting for Ulrich to take his turn. " Got any kings?"

" Your cheating aren't you?" Zack asked handing Ulrich his king. Ulrich laughed and put the pair down face up. " Got any twos?" Ulrich handed him a two as Zack celebrated in his mind.

" Hey Yumi," Ulrich said thinking of what he should ask for next. Yumi smiled and stepped into the room, standing next to Ulrich on the opposite side of the bed as Zack. Ulrich looked at the mirror behind Zack and saw his cards in the reflection. " Do you have an... Ace?" Zack slammed his cards down in disbelief as Ulrich laughed, because he had just won.

" You were cheating, not one guess was wrong the entire game."

" I'm just lucky, play again?" Zack shuffled the cards back into the deck and dealt them to everyone. This game, Yumi and Ulrich tag teamed Zack to bring him out of the game early. Then the fight was between them. Because they weren't using a mirror, it was actually a game.

" Do you have a three?" Ulrich asked. Yumi shook her head and said the necessary words. Ulrich drew his next card and groaned, no pairs.

" Got any fours?"

" Go fish." Yumi drew her next card and smiled mentally, keeping her game face. " Any jacks?"

" Go fish, any threes?" Yumi asked before Ulrich drew his card. She had pulled a three on her last draw. Ulrich drew his card and threw the three to Yumi, then placed the pair of fives down. Ulrich had one card left, and not enough pairs to beat Yumi. Yumi had three cards left, then looked at them. A ten, a six, and an ace. Looking up from over her cards, she looked at Ulrich who was waiting for her to guess.

" Umm, do you have a six?"

Ulrich threw the card to her and said, " Dammit. Can we play something else?"

" Cry baby," Yumi said to him playfully. " You get out of your casts tomorrow right?"

" Yep. Good timing to, they were getting itchy." Yumi giggled and collected the cards, shuffled, placing them on the small table next to Ulrich's bed. " I'm not joking. They're driving me nuts." Yumi giggled again and rubbed his hair that was growing back fast. " Sissi came by again."

" What she'd do?" Yumi asked him, knowing this would be entertaining.

" I pretended to be asleep again, and the entire time she was playing with my hair. Then she leaned down, and smelled it." Yumi looked at him, not sure how to react. " That's what I said, I pretended to wake up and she freaked out."

" What did she do?"

" Started to talk about how much she loves me, and all that bs. I told her I was pretending to be asleep the entire time, and she thought I was just being shy."

" Sounds like Sissi. When did she leave?"

" When Zack came in. She thinks his eyes are creepy and didn't feel safe being in the same room, so left."

" Finally Zack," Yumi said looking at him, " Something your useful for." Zack just shrugged.

" We all have our purpose, even me. Well I need to go, I have a date." Zack stood up off his chair and put his coat on.

" What's she like?" Ulrich asked, interested in Zack's relationship.

" She's an american who moved for the company. I'm going to show her around town and stuff. You know, introduce her to the city." Zack zipped it up and said his goodbyes and left.

" Good luck." Yumi said to him before he reached the door. " I can't wait till you get your casts off."

" I can, it means I'll be physically healthy enough to attend school," Ulrich said, actually starting to enjoy his little vacation.

" I go to your school, it can't be that bad," Yumi said, telling him one nice thing about Kadic. Then Yumi stopped smiling because she was going to tell him something. " Umm Ulrich there's something you need to know about that night."

Ulrich turned to face her and asked, " What about it?"

" I think I know why you said those words before you stepped into the street." Ulrich waited for her to continue eagerly. " We had a argument that night, and I said I wished you just go and die." Yumi had said it, now it was his turn to say something.

To her surprise Ulrich smiled and said, " Bout time."


	8. Suicide or homicide

" What?" Yumi asked him confused.

" I said bout time," Ulrich answered, repeating what he had just said to her. " I remembered that part the day after I remembered what I said." Yumi looked at him, not sure if she should be angry or shocked. She decided to be both.

" Why didn't you tell me?" She asked angry and shocked.

" I knew you'd say it eventually, and I wanted you to say it."

" Say that I'd hope you'd die. Ulrich it isn't funny. You attempted suicide because of me, and for three weeks you had me feeling guilty because you wanted me to say it."

" Suicide? Yumi I didn't step in front of the car." Yumi looked at him confused again. " It was a thought I was having. It took me time to cross street, because I was trying to decide if I should go back to your house. After deciding I shouldn't I stepped into the street, as a car that didn't have any lights on hit me. It was an accident."

" You mean, you didn't attempt suicide?"

" Hell no. Whoever was in the car didn't stop, nor did the police ever find the car. Hit and run." Yumi looked at him, and smiled. It wasn't her fault after all. " I didn't see who was driving the car, but he was laughing after he drove by. He knew who I was."

" Someone tried to kill you. Who would?"

" Anyone who has a grudge against me, or just doesn't like me." Only one name came into Yumi's mind. Only one person they knew had a grudge against them so strong it could motivate homicide.

" Xana," Yumi said as her suspect.

" Zack wouldn't. He's different now."

" How do we know he hasn't been acting different, gaining our trust." Ulrich looked away from her. " It's logical."

" So is saying William hit me. He hates me."

" Not William."

" Well not Zack either." Yumi moved Ulrich's head toward her and made him look at her.

" Ulrich it could be him whether you like it or not." Ulrich sighed and looked down.

* * *

The next day the entire group went to visit Ulrich, today he got his casts off. Yumi helped him walk, until he got adjusted to it. Ulrich was still wobbling some, but overall he was managing fairly well. They walked with him out of the hospital, and took him back to the academy. Some people around the school looked at him as he walked, applauding him.

Ulrich wobbled into his room and fell onto his bed as the group filled the room. Yumi and Ulrich sat on his bed, Jeremie and Aelita on Odd's, Aelita rubbing kiwi's stomach. Odd was sitting on his desk hair, using the back rest as an arm rest. " Now what?" Odd asked everyone. Yumi looked at Ulrich who nodded.

" Guys, someone tried to kill Ulrich." Everyone looked at the two surprised. This wasn't how they had expected to spend their afternoon.

" Are you sure?" Jeremie asked them. They both nodded, and began to explain what they knew. " It can't be Zack. He had more than enough opportunities to kill him while he was in the hospital."

" He couldn't do it without getting caught," Yumi said, trying to defend her point.

" If it is him, then why hasn't he made attempts to kill the rest of us?" Aelita said on Zack's behalf.

" Maybe the opportunity wasn't granted to him."

" Look, I think the guy has a right to defend himself," Odd said to everyone. Everyone agreed with Odd on that point, so called Zack.

They met Zack in a public area, so he wouldn't think about trying anything. Zack arrived first, wondering what this was about. They all sat down and Yumi began.

" Zack, where were you the night Ulrich was hit?"

" At my apartment most of the night. But at about seven I was called in to fix a server that went nuts, and by two I finished it. I was in the office the entire night fixing a server." It was a valid answer, everyone knew Zack was a server manager. " Why what was this about?"

" Ulrich's hit wasn't an accident. Someone tried to kill him," Yumi said to Zack.

" And you think I did. I don't even own a car. To much of a hassle in this city. Ulrich was hit at about one, I got home at two thirty." Yumi looked at him for any sign of deception in his voice or eyes. None were seen.

" Sorry, just taking out the possible suspects."

" Don't worry about it, well I need to go, get ready for my second date with the same person." Zack left the kids who looked around at each other.

* * *

" Who else could it be?" Yumi asked Ulrich. Ulrich shrugged and looked at Yumi who was looking at him.

" Can we talk about something else?" Ulrich asked, a little tired of looking for his killer.

" What can we talk about?" Yumi asked him. Ulrich just looked at her nonverbally asking for something. Deciding to make the first move Ulrich slid across his bed and moved his head closer to hers.

" Ulrich?" Yumi asked him, weakly, her heart jumping. Ulrich closed her eyes, as Yumi closed hers. Ulrich's heart stayed stable, but Yumi's was going mile a minute. Ulrich didn't think she'd let him. Yumi leaned toward him, closing her eyes, her heart beat pounding out of her chest. Their lips met, and Ulrich's heart jumped.

Ulrich let her lips go and looked back at her. " What?" Yumi asked.

" I didn't think you'd let me." Yumi smiled at him, grabbing the collar of his shirt and pulling him down on top of her. Yumi started the next kiss, that didn't break up. Ulrich supported his weight over Yumi, and continued to kiss her back. " I was suspecting more of a fight."

" Do you want one?" Yumi asked him.

" No this is good." Yumi smiled and slowly began to lick her inner lips, asking for permission to go to first. The pitch was good, and she was safe at first, their tongues dancing, trading off between their months. Stopping a every other moment only to breathe, they kept at it for another ten minutes. To both of them, it felt like they were getting it all out of their systems. Year after year after year of suppressed feelings and emotions, they went wild.

Yumi's cell phone rang just when they were getting interesting. " Just don't answer it." Ulrich said to her, as she lay up off him. Yumi pulled her phone out and looked at who was calling. It was her father. Yumi answered her phone, though she didn't want to.

" Hey daddy," Yumi said, trying to act natural with Ulrich kissing her neck. Yumi listened as her father complained about her staying out too late and needed to come home immediately.

" Alright daddy," Yumi said, pausing to breathe deep from Ulrich's kissing, " I'll be home soon." She hung up her phone and kissed Ulrich back. " I need to go."

" I know." Yumi stood up off his bed, Ulrich standing up with her. " Want me to walk you home?"

" No, my dad will get suspicious if you come with me." Yumi kissed him again and began to back pedal toward his door. She hit her back against the door, Ulrich pinning her against it. " Five more minutes." They fell back onto Ulrich's bed and continued where they left off.

* * *

Twenty minutes later Yumi left his company and headed out the door and down the hall. Ulrich was laying on his bed, the happiest he had been in quite a long time. Looking at the stack of homework he had from his leave, he sighed and began it. Yumi turned down the hall and began to look through her listed numbers to call her father back. Before she hit send, a door in the hall opened as a hand covered her mouth and pulled her in. 


	9. Ultimatum

**_Note- Be warned, pushing M, if not in that genre already. Thanks for the reviews, enjoy._**

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Yumi tried to scream, but the hand over her mouth held her voice back. She heard the door that opened, shut softly, her attacker holding her mouth and her body. Yumi attempted to break the person's grip, but he was over powering her. Struggling more to get free, the man held her closer, not letting her go no matter how much she squirmed.

" Did you two have fun?" The man asked. " Scream if you want, I sound proofed the room." The man threw Yumi to the floor in what looked to be an empty dorm room with only a bed and wardrobe.

Looking up at her attacker, she saw that he was wearing a black mask that had a mouth slot and eyes slots. His clothing was black as well, black pants and a long sleeved black shirt. He was wearing black gloves as well, and had a rather insidious smile upon his face. The man locked the room with a deadbolt and advance toward her slowly.

" Get away from me." Yumi said to him with no effect. Yumi crawled backwards as the man continued her way. Yumi hit the wall then stood up as the man pinned her against it. " What do you want?"

" You," The man said with smile. " I'm going to take you away for a bit, but after I have my fun." Yumi looked at him and saw his evil intentions. Yumi kneed him in the groin and made a dash for the door. The man recovered quickly as Yumi turned the knob, forgetting about the deadbolt. Turning the handle she unlocked it and barley got the door ajar before it shut again. The man pinned her again, locking the door and grabbing her in a bear hug.

Throwing Yumi onto the bed he lay over her as Yumi tried to push him off. She hated the warmth, the unwanted warmth. Slapping the man in the face several times made him pin her arms down. Yumi screamed, but no one heard her, like he said the room was sound proof. His body weight was holding the rest of her body down, unable to move, only to painfully wait. Feeling his hand rub her body, Yumi screamed again. The man covered her mouth, not liking the loud noise.

Slowly reaching into her pocket she pulled out her cell phone and tried to get into her listed numbers. Looking down at her phone she tried to find the numbers, before the man grabbed her phone. " Uh, Uh, Uh." The man threw her phone against the wall, smashing it pieces. " Bad girl."

" Get off of me!" Yumi shouted at him. The man smiled big again, then began to reach under her shirt. Yumi began to squirm again, much more aggressively. He was too strong to hold back as he began to feel her chest. Beginning to scream again from the unwanted warmth and invasion he covered her mouth again.

" Stop it!" Yumi mumbled through his grip. She tried bitting his hand, but his gloves were thick enough to avoid pain. Hearing a zipper, then her pants at her wait slid down, she struggled more to no avail.

A few moments later he was thrusting as Yumi lost her breath unable to speak let alone yell for it to stop or shout for help. Yumi knew help wasn't coming, as did the man who wasn't afraid to go harder or faster than Yumi could take. Tears ran down her face, as she cried and moaned, begging for it to stop. Her body was trembling as it began to grow warmer. She hated warmth now. She rather be freezing cold than warm now. She also hated the fact at how close Ulrich really was to her. Not even five rooms away, he was unaware. He wanted to walk her home, but Yumi was afraid of her father. Her father being angry at her was a luxury now.

After twenty minutes of trembling, crying, begging, he stopped. Pulling Yumi's pants back to her waist he redid them for her, then redid his. Yumi was frozen, unable to move or speak from what had been happening.

" That wasn't so bad was it." The said with a smile. Standing off of Yumi, who just lay there, still frozen with shock, disbelief and fear. The man grabbed a small bag from the shelf and threw onto the bed next to Yumi. Sitting down he opened the bag and took out a syringe that was filled with a clear fluid. Lifting up her sleeve he injected it into her arm and said, " This will help you sleep while I transport you to your next stop. Nighty night." Yumi's eyelids dropped over her eyes as she fell into a nightmare.

* * *

Ulrich sat on his bed doing his homework from when he was in the hospital. He couldn't focus. Every time his thought wandered, it was about her. It had been about two hours since she left, and he couldn't stop thinking about her. The warmth of her body next to his, the incredible feeling of her lips to his. Deciding to call her he went hit speed dial one and called her. It didn't ring, he only got her voice mail. Leaving her a message he went back to his work, placing his phone on his night stand.

The moment after he placed his phone on the night stand, it rang. Not bothering to look who was calling him answered and said, " Hello?"

" Listen and listen well Ulrich, I have her," said a voice that was being masked, making it sound extremely animated.

" Have who?"

" Say hello dear." The man placed the phone next to Yumi who shouted Ulrich's name. " Now listen, I can see you, but you can't see me. I know every action you take, so watch what you do."

" Your bluffing," Ulrich said looking around for a camera or something.

" Look up." Ulrich looked up and saw nothing, " You looked up." Ulrich theory on bluffing failed. " And now your looking around in a scared and clueless manner."

" Where is she?" Ulrich asked, " If you lay one finger on her.."

" Too late. Far to late. Now listen to these instructions, no cops, no friends."

" Or what?"

" I'll kill her." Ulrich hated ultimatums. " I'll give you a clue of where she is. You have a day to find her, before I call you again with upsetting news. Here's the clue; It's been used twice, for two different purposes."

" That's the riddle, been used twice for two different reasons?"

" I'm not very creative. Twenty four hours, no cops, no friends. And go." The phone hung up as Ulrich looked at it in disbelief.

" You son of a bitch," Ulrich said aloud. Odd walked into the room and looked at Ulrich.

" You okay man?" Odd asked, noticing Ulrich seemed pissed off. ' No friends, I'm watching you. Or I'll kill her.'

" I'm good. This homework is making me angry."

* * *

Ulrich didn't sleep that night. He stayed up all night, thinking the riddle in his mind. He wrote it down on paper and looked at the words. 'It's been used twice, for two different purposes.' It sounded so incredibly simple, but then again he was pressured to think quick. It seemed like common sense, but the problem with common sense is the fact that it isn't that common. The hours went by. One hour, two, four, ten. Tick, tock, tick, tock, time was against him.

He was having trouble the entire day, trying to stay focused on Yumi's safety, but look like she wasn't in trouble. Yumi's parents had called the school about her never coming home last night, but no one knew why. Except Ulrich, who was the first person the police asked. Doing his best to act naturally and act like he didn't know, the police left him. Looking at his watch, two hours left. He began to pace more, thinking, brainstorming all possibilities. Hermitage, no, her house no. The school, maybe. The factory?

' It's been used twice, for twice for two different reasons.' It was a factory that made cars, then later it sheltered and hid the lab. It fit the clue and Ulrich went with it. Looking at his watch, ten minutes.

" I'll never make it in time," Ulrich thought. But none the less he had to try. Or get help. ' No friends.' Then Ulrich thought of a loophole through that rule. He needed to ask help from someone he normally wouldn't. Running out of his room and down the hall, he went down the stairs and knocked at the door and the bottom of the stairs. The door opened and Ulrich said, " I need your help William."


	10. The mask is off

" Let me get this straight, Yumi was kidnaped?" William asked after Ulrich's short and fast ten second explanation. Ulrich nodded frantically, hoping William would understand that fact a little sooner. " And she has ten minutes before something happens?" Ulrich nodded again just as frantically. " Why do you need my help?"

" I need to get to the old factory before the dead line. I know you don't like me, and I don't like you. But Yumi is in danger, and even you can't ignore that."

" Your lying," William said, not fully grasping the idea.

" Why would I lie about that. You need to drive me there before she gets killed." William leaned against his door and thought again. " Yumi is in danger!" Ulrich shouted at him.

" Alright. We need to hurry." William ran into his room and grabbed the keys to a car that his parents left him. The two ran to the parking lot as Ulrich looked at his watch. Seven minutes.

" The old factory?" William asked, making sure.

" Yeah, and hurry." Before Ulrich could buckle himself in William slammed on the gas and the two turned into the street and toward the factory.

" Who has her?" William asked.

" I don't know... watch out!" William swerved around a car that he nearly rear ended.

" You wanna get there fast right."

" I wanna get there alive too." William swerved again and Ulrich hit his head on his window. Buckling up he held the handle above his window, and looked at his watch. " Hurry."

* * *

William turned onto the bridge connecting to the factory. Hitting the brakes hard Ulrich jumped out of the car and ran into the factory.

" Yumi!" No response. The elevator to the lab was out so he didn't bother looking there. Running down the hallway he checked the rooms as he ran by. " Yumi!"

" Yumi!" William shouted as well.

" We should split up."

" No. If the kidnaper is here, then we're safer together." Ulrich nodded and the two continued to check the rooms. William checked the rooms on the right, Ulrich on the left.

Trying the handle on a door, William found that it was locked and said, " Ulrich, this might be it. Give me a hand." Ulrich dashed to the door as they both tried to break it open. The door was a large metal door that wasn't going anywhere. Ulrich looked around and grabbed and fire extinguisher and slammed it against the door knob.

After five swings the knob broke of and the door swung open. " Yumi!" Ulrich shouted again, listening for her voice. It was a large room that was fairly empty, except for another room at the end of it ten feet away. Ulrich grabbed the extinguisher and began to try to beat down the door. William walked over and simply turned the knob, opening it.

" Thanks." Ulrich ran into the room and the first thing he saw made him drop his item. " Yumi."

Ulrich ran to Yumi who was unconscious and tied to a chair. Her wrists were bound by duct tape, her legs as well. Her body was tied to the chair by rope, that was starting to become loose. She looked unharmed, but with her being unconscious it was hard to tell her condition.

" Yumi wake up." Ulrich said to her, placing his palms on her checks. No reaction. " Yumi please wake up." Feeling for a pulse, he felt a very weak one. Her condition was worse than he thought.

" The poison was injected an hour ago," said William from behind Ulrich. Ulrich heard him but his focus was on Yumi. She was cold, and motionless.

" Come on Yumi, open your eyes," Ulrich begged her. He felt her body twitch slightly, but then go still again. " Please Yumi, stay with me." Ulrich said crying now. Very slowly, her eyes weakly opened and looked at Ulrich.

" Ulrich?" Yumi asked him.

" I'm here Yumi. Your going to be okay." Ulrich looked at her arm because Yumi did, and saw a syringe was stuck in it. The syringe was empty. " What did he do to you?"

" I don't know. I'm so cold." Ulrich took out his pocket knife and cut Yumi's wrists restraints, then her feet. Pulling the rope from over her head he pulled her off the chair and lay her on the ground over his jacket. Taking off his button shirt he lay it over Yumi.

"Stay warm," Ulrich said to her. " Who did this?" Yumi just looked at him, her eyes getting weaker, his pulse getting lower.

" Stay with me," Ulrich begged, crying. His tears were going past his face and falling on the ground next to Yumi. Ulrich examined the syringe then looked at Yumi. Poison.

" Ulrich... I lo...lo.." She stopped trying talk and froze. She wasn't making any motion in the slightest. Her chest wasn't rising from breathing. Her eyes remained open, but not looking.

" Yumi," Ulrich begged again. " YUMI!" Ulrich's tears fell uncontrollably as he looked at Yumi, who wasn't looking at him. She was dead. Ulrich closed her still open eyes and wrapped his arms around her close, crying.

" YUMI! Who did this to you?" Ulrich tears were falling on Yumi as she lay there lifelessly. " Who did this!" 'The poison was injected an hour ago.' Ulrich remembered Williams words. Standing up from Yumi's corpse he looked at William who didn't even looked effected by Yumi's body.

" How did you know she was injected with poison, and how long ago?"

William smiled and said, " Most don't know this about me, but I love Romeo and Juliet. The love, the passion, the tragic conclusion. So many avoidable consequences that weren't avoided." William walked to a shelf on the room and began to dig through a bag, " Even with the ending, it is the most romantic love story of history. You die for those you love. Sometimes kill for those you love."

" It was you."

" Is that your final answer?"

" You son of a bitch," Ulrich said looking at him.

" Congratulations, you've won a million dollars, check or cash?" William found the item in the bag and put on a pair of gloves, then pulled out a loaded pistol. " Now this love story's ending."

" Why?"

" If I can't have Yumi, no one can. Love makes me do crazy things, like kill the one I love just because she doesn't love me. After she picked me, she still loved you. I thought I'd convince her otherwise, but you had to go attempt to woo her."

" You're the one who hit me," Ulrich said, realizing what he was saying.

" Your slow aren't you. With you out of the picture, Yumi was mine. She'd pine and cry for awhile, but a big girl like her would move on to bigger and better things. Me. But it back fired. You lived, when should of died. Talk about a mood killer."

" Your crazy. You're a freaking lunatic," Ulrich said, watching his actions because of the gun gripped nicely in William's left hand.

" Perhaps."

" Why did you kill her if you claim to love her."

" She's loves you. I can't change that, life or death. If I can't have her, why should you. I tried hitting you with a car, which ironically enough poor Yumi thought was suicide for awhile. My entire plan back fired. Blew up right in my face."

" You killed her."

" Oh boo hoo. I wanted to kill her after I failed to kill you. I knew I couldn't try again with success, so just went with a different approach. I killed her yes, but after I had my fun."

" You didn't touch her," Ulrich threatened rather than asked.

William laughed loud and said, " You clueless idiot. Of course I did. I'm a raving lunatic, what does the word fun mean in my dictionary. I had a hell of a time too." Ulrich on any other case would have attacked him, but with the no weapon disadvantage he had to play this smart. " Are you mad? Angry? Do you want to kill me?"

" Is that a trick question," Ulrich said, wanting to kill him.

" No not really, more rhetorical than anything."

" How do you plan to get away with this?"

" Easy, frame you."

" I know you did it, I'll testify against you. Also the physical evidence of you raping her." Ulrich said, not going to let William get his way.

" You won't be alive, and it's amazing how much evidence a condom can hide. If anything they'll think it was you, or overlook it."

" How are you going to frame me if I'm dead?"

" I already have. Ulrich, your finger prints are all over her body. All over the syringe, and all over the gun that you used to shoot yourself." Before Ulrich could ask William shot Ulrich in the chest. Ulrich fell back and hit the ground next to Yumi. He felt a sudden shortness of breath as William walked over to him and looked down at him.

" You could of had any other girl. But you had to mess with mine." Blood began to soak Ulrich's shirt as he began to gasp for air. He spit up blood and looked at William who just smiled.

Kneeling next to Ulrich, William placed the gun in Ulrich's hand and said, " Give it a good squeeze, it's out too, one round only, makes suicide look more convincing." He squeezed Ulrich's hand on the gun, putting his finger prints on it. " Juliet by poison, and Romeo by weapon. Flipped from the original, but still a good ending."

" You're a fucking psycho," Ulrich managed to say, just unable to move.

" Love makes me do crazy things. Give her my love would you," William said as he stood up and walked away before the police arrived.

* * *

_Note- Not the ending, just another of my cliffhangers._


	11. How do you plead?

They lay there. Ulrich dying and Yumi dead. William was long gone when the police arrived, hearing a report of a gunshot. They found the two, and checked both of their pulses. Yumi's was gone, but Ulrich's was weak. A few minutes later an ambulance arrived at the scene and Ulrich was rushed into intensive care again, while the police zipped up Yumi's body bag. Ulrich had passed out from blood loss when they had arrived, as they had to keep him from flat lining.

Ulrich's stretcher was rushed straight into surgery where he was for the next hour. The police informed the school that Yumi Ishiyama had been found, as was her parents. Mrs. Ishiyama cried herself to sleep, but Mr. Ishiyama was working on how he should tell Hiroki. Mrs. Ishiyama wanted to tell him, but Mr. Ishiyama thought it best if he did with his wife being emotionally crippled at the moment.

The Ishiyama's were asked to come to the police department to answer a few questions. Mr. Ishiyama answered them, then went onto asking the questions. He wanted to know why his daughter was dead. Kidnaped, and murdered were all the police could tell them because it was still under investigation. After an autopsy, they ran the finger prints on several objects and on her body and came up with one positive match. Ulrich Stern.

Once they had a suspect they placed Ulrich in a room that was being monitored. He was the lead suspect in a murder case, and they didn't want him to go anywhere. Letting Ulrich rest, they investigated the scene more to find any other sign of foul play or to find another suspect. Ulrich was the only one. As Ulrich slept through his nightmare, his fathers lawyer came in and began to find a defence. It wasn't looking good for Ulrich Stern.

* * *

Ulrich opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was the bright light hanging above him. Blocking the light with his hands he squinted as his eyes tried to focus. Looking down at his body he saw he was covered by a blanket and in a paper gown. His right index finger had pulse monitor on it, and his left arm had an needle connected to tubing that was pumping some liquid in him. Taking a deep breath, he felt his chest hurt, so placed his hand on it. Seeing his chest was wrapped in a bandage that was covering stitches, he tried to think of why.

Suddenly everything hit Ulrich all at once. Making out with Yumi, the phone call, asking William for help. He placed his hands on his head while he tried to gather the rest of it. Driving to the factory, finding Yumi, Yumi dying in his arms. ' Yumi.' Ulrich said to himself. The memories kept flowing. William's speech, the gun shot, pain, then nothing. ' William.'

" Ulrich," said a familiar voice. Ulrich turned his head and was looking at Zack who was sitting next to him. " Finally. You've been out for a few days. How do you feel?"

" Where am I?" Ulrich asked.

" Police hospital. What happened. Things are crazy right now. Yumi's dead, and you're the lead suspect."

" What?"

" Your being accused for murder. They found evidence of you being Yumi's killer." Everything about William's speech came back. ' Easy, frame you.' Ulrich had been framed. But one good thing did happen. He was alive, and still had the opportunity to tell everyone what really happened.

" Doesn't look good. They said your finger prints were found on the syringe, the gun, and all over her body. Did you do it?"

" No," Ulrich said offended from Zack even thinking that. " William Dunbar did."

" Yumi's exboyfriend?" Ulrich nodded. " Why?"

" Love makes him do crazy things."

" Did he shoot you?" Ulrich nodded again, then felt his chest. " You need to bring his name up. But not in court."

" Why?"

" Legally you can't put someone on trial who isn't on trial. Stick to the truth, and hope the jury listens." Ulrich put his face into his palms and began to cry. Yumi was dead, and her killer was still out there.

" That bastard is going to burn."

" I know. For now play it smart."

* * *

An hour after Ulrich had awoken, a doctor and a detective walked in to talk to him. The doctor told him about his condition, and left. " Mr. Lyoko please leave the room, I need to ask Mr. Stern a few questions." Zack placed his hand on Ulrich's shoulder and nodded to him as he walked past the detective who took a seat in the one Zack was sitting in before.

The detective looked at Ulrich and asked, " How are you feeling." Ulrich just shrugged. " Do you mind if I ask you a few questions."

" Not at all." Ulrich said to him. The detective took out a clipboard and a piece of paper from his briefcase, and placed them on his lap.

" Are you aware that you're the lead suspect of a murder case," Ulrich nodded after a second. It was a slight nod, showing he wasn't very excited about it. " Ms. Ishiyama, do you know her?"

" She's was my friend," Ulrich said, hating the fact he said ' was' and not 'is'.

" How close were you two?"

" Very."

" Boyfriend girlfriend?" The detective asked, doing his job.

" I guess so. We never made if official but I think that's a fair title to give us."

" How long were you dating her for?"

" Not even a day?" Ulrich said, remembering how brief it actually was. The detective wrote down everything he said, carefully listening for nervousness in his voice. It was there. He was being accused for murder, who wouldn't be nervous.

" Where were you between eight pm and ten pm on the night she was kidnaped?"

" My room doing homework I had missed because of when I was in the hospital."

" Why were you in the hospital?"

" I was hit by a car." Ulrich aid a little frustrated. The detective wasn't getting to the point, asking the real questions.

" Did Ms. Ishiyama visit you while you were injured?"

" Everyday." The detective continued to write.

" Now the real questions. Did you kidnap Ms. Ishiyama?"

" No," Ulrich said, not too soon, but not to late. No sign of deception in his voice at all.

" Did you murder Ms. Ishiyama?"

" No."

" Did you attempt to kill yourself?"

"No."

" Do you know who did?"

" Yes." The detective looked at him from the clipboard, not expecting that answer.

" Who then?"

" A boy at Kadic academy named William Dunbar. He was also the one who hit me with the car."

" It says here it was an accident." The detective said, looking at the records from the crash.

" It wasn't."

" How do you know?"

" He told me before he shot me. He planned it. Planned killing Yumi then framing me, then killing me so I couldn't testify against him in court."

" He told you all that." Ulrich nodded and the detective looked at his notes then stood up. " That'll do for now. Rest up, your court hearing starts in five days." The detective walked out of the room and Zack walked back in. Ulrich took a deep breath. They had William's name, and now all he could do was hope.


	12. And the verdict is?

_**We've reached 100 hundred reviews. Hurray! I never thought that would happen, but it did and thank you all. The story only has a few more chapters in case some of you are wondering.**_

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William Dunbar sat in a interrogation room of the police department. He knew very well why he was here. Leaning back on his chair and playing with his thumbs as he continued to wait for someone to come in. ' Should of shot you in the head.' William said to himself. He had shot Ulrich in the chest, because he'd die slowly instead of instantly. He laughed to himself, ' Another backfire.' The detective who had talked to Ulrich stepped into the room and sat in the chair on the opposite side of the table.

" Do you know why you're here?" The detective asked.

" I was going to ask you," William lied.

" You have been accused of murder. Do you know a Ms. Yumi Ishiyama?" William nodded. " Do you know that she's dead?" William nodded again, making himself look sad about it. William took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. " Nervous?"

" I'm in a police department in the interrogation room. Of course I am," William said as convincing as possible. The detective began with the usual questions, where were you, who were you with, why were you there? William lied on them all, trying to make himself sound honest. He thought he was doing a good job. After about twenty minutes William left as the detective wrote down the last words from William's conversation. ' I don't trust him.' The detective said to himself.

* * *

Ulrich sat in his hospital bed, waiting for something to happen. It had been three days since he woke up, and Ulrich wanted to know if his confession against William came through. The detective walked into his hospital room, and sat on the chair next to Ulrich's bed. " So what happened with William?" Ulrich asked.

" We don't have any evidence to get him with anything. You'll be going on trial in two days." Ulrich lowered his head. " I think your telling the truth though. Something isn't right with that kid. His records are clean for the most part, but I know he's lying."

" Hook him up to a polygraph," Ulrich said.

" I legally can't do that without probable cause. I know you telling me his name sounds good, but they won't trust your word enough to take a second glance at him. Just tell the jury what you told me, stay calm, and hope." The detective stood up and walked toward the door, then stopped halfway and turned around. " Good luck, I hope this works out."

* * *

Two days later Ulrich left the hospital in handcuffs as his police escort made their way to the court house. The story had made a lot of press, the stairs of the court was filled with reporters. Ulrich's police car pulled to the curb as the reports swarmed around the car. The detective was with Ulrich who looked out the window and sighed.

" Keep your head down, and keep moving. Push, shove if you have to, but get up there and do it quick." The detective opened the door for him as three police officers blocked the reports.

" Mr. Stern , Why did you do it?" Several asked. " What do you see as the verdict?" Ulrich pushed his way through the crowd with his head down. Camera flashes were hitting him as microphones were pushed into his face. " Do you see any chance of winning this case?" As Ulrich passed through the crowd he saw a familiar face away from it. Leaning against the wall looking straight at him with an insidious smile on his face, was William. He gave Ulrich a playful wave, as Ulrich used every bit of restraint to not attack him.

Ulrich made his way through the crowd as the doors to the courtroom were opened for him. More camera flashes greeted him as he walked down the aisle and took a seat next to his father's lawyer. Behind him his parents sat on the benches, along with everyone else. The Ishiyama's sat first row on the opposite side, glaring at Ulrich like he was the killer. William sat in the back, not wanting it to look obvious he was interested.

The courtroom was filled with chatter that died down when a guard said, " All rise for judge Solvia."

Everyone stood up with their best posture as a tall man walked into the courtroom and took his seat at his bench. When he sat down everyone else did as he looked at the papers on his bench and then looked out to everyone in the courtroom.

" The case we have is the french department of justice, versus Ulrich Stern." The judge looked at Ulrich and said, " Please rise." Ulrich stood up and looked back at him, keeping eye contact. " Ulrich Stern, you are accused with the kidnaping and murder of Yumi Ishiyama, how do you plead?"

" Innocent," Ulrich said without any sign of false trust.

" Have a seat." Ulrich did as told as the judge said, " Prosecutor, you have floor." The lawyer for the department of justice stood up and stood in the center of the room.

" I would like to call a witness to the stand," the lawyer said to the judge.

" Who?"

" I would like to call Ulrich Stern." The judge nodded and Ulrich got to his feet and walked to the stand. Placing his hands behind his back he stood in front of Ulrich and began. " What were your motives for murdering Yumi Ishiyama?"

" I didn't kill her," Ulrich said to him.

" When did you murder her?"

" I didn't kill her," Ulrich said again.

" Why did you kidnap her?"

" I didn't kill her," Ulrich repeated, aggravated.

" Did you do anything to her while the authorities were searching?"

" I DIDN'T KILL HER!" Ulrich shouted at him, slamming his fists against the wooden frame of the stand.

" Your honor, he's badgering my client," His fathers lawyer said to the judge.

" No more questions, Ulrich you may have a seat," Ulrich walked away from the stand and sat back down behind his table. " You may make a statement, or call someone to the stand." Ulrich's lawyer stood and looked at the judge.

" I'd like to call someone to the stand." The judge nodded and the lawyer continued. " I'd like to call my client to the stand." The judge nodded in approval as Ulrich made his back to the stand.

" Where were you the night she was kidnaped, and when was the last time you saw her?" He asked Ulrich like he was a witness instead of a suspect.

" I was in my dorm room when it happened. The last time I saw her, was when she left my room," Some members of the jury looked at each other.

" Why was she there?"

" She was helping me with my homework I missed while I was in the hospital." Ulrich said to him. It was the original reason she had come over, but not the final. He was being accused of murder, and knew that being physical with her in any way made him look more guilty than he already wasn't.

" When did you find out she was kidnaped?" again Ulrich felt relieved by how the questions were asked.

" When I received a phone call from the kidnaper." The audience erupted with conversation about that. The judge called for order.

" The kidnaper called you, did you report this call to the police?"

" No, he gave me an ultimatum."

" LIAR!" Shouted Mr. Ishiyama, who at this point thought Ulrich was telling a story. Mrs. Ishiyama tried to hold him down, but he stayed to his feet and glared at Ulrich angry.

" Mr. Ishiyama, I will remove from this courtroom if you disrupt this again!" The judge shouted at him. Mr. Ishiyama looked at the judge for a few seconds, then brought himself under control. " Continue please."

" What was the ultimatum?"

" He gave me a riddle and told me to find her in twenty four hours or I'd get another upsetting phone call. The riddle I can't remember, but the answer was the abandoned factory. He said, no friends, no cops."

" What did you do when you found out?"

" Got to the factory as fast as I could. When I found her, she was weak, barely breathing, and cold," Ulrich said, choking on his own voice. "She was tied to a chair, so I untied her and tried to save her." The crowd watched as he began to sob in front of them. Every memory of that night came back, hard. " I held her. Tried to wake her up. But she died. Died right there in my arms. Then I heard a voice."

" Who was it?" his lawyer asked. They hadn't reviewed about talking about this, but it was working well for his defence.

" The kidnaper. He told me everything he did, then he shot me."

" It was said you shot yourself after injecting her with poison."

" If I wanted to kill myself effectively, I'd shoot myself in the head." The crowd erupted in voices again. " I didn't kill her. I didn't kidnap her, but I know who did, and why he did it." Ulrich hated the fact he could put William on trial. He had him, but he didn't. " My accident when the car hit me, wasn't an accident. The same person hit me, because I was in love with Yumi, and so was he."

" You loved this girl?" Ulrich sadly nodded. " And he attempted to kill you because you did. But when you lived, and Yumi loved you, it sent him off edge." William in the back of room was sweating. They were pinning his character down. " So he killed Yumi, and framed you. Then faked your unsuccessful suicide."

" Your honor. Ulrich Stern is on trial, not some imaginary kidnaper." The prosecutor shouted.

" Over ruled." The prosecutor sat down as Ulrich finished his questions and took a seat.

* * *

For the next two hours the courtroom was a battleground. One half attacked Ulrich, the other defended him. Several more people we're called to the stand. Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita were called to the stand. All three pleaded in Ulrich's defence.

" Mr. Robbia, do you believe Ulrich killed Yumi Ishiyama?" The lawyer asked Odd." Not in a million years." He nodded as Odd walked back to the his seat behind the gate.

" Your honor can we have a witness who isn't friends with the defendant?" Mr. Ishiyama was called to the stand next. " What would you call Ulrich Stern and your daughters relationship with each other?"

" Friends. Good friends." The lawyer asked a few more questions, and then asked the one every wanted to hear the answer to.

" Do you think that boy," The lawyer began pointing at Ulrich, " Murdered and kidnaped your daughter?"

Mr. Ishiyama looked at Ulrich who looked back at him. At first Mr. Ishiyama just wanted to point fingers. He was angry and needed someone to blame. When he looked at Ulrich who sat there looking back at him. Nothing said Ulrich was the killer. He seemed upset, and like he didn't deserve to be put on trial for false evidence.

" No." The crowd was shocked, because of his earlier outbreak against Ulrich. " No. I don't think he did, or could for that matter. He was pathetically in love with my daughter." He took his seat, as Ulrich tried to hold back a smile. He was pathetically in love.

* * *

" All rise for the verdict." Everyone in the courtroom rose to their feet and the jury stood up with a made decision. They had been bickering for about an hour before coming back into the courtroom. " Has the jury come up with a verdict for the defendant."

" We have your honor."

" Proceed, you have the floor."

The man in the jury box who looked most official, (though no one on jury duty looks official) cleared his voice and began.

" After hearing both testimonies, we have come up with a verdict." Ulrich and anyone with him held their breath. " Do to the overwhelming amount of evidence against Ulrich Stern, and lack of suspects in this hearing. The court finds Ulrich Stern," Ulrich heart began to go faster. It was pounding out of his chest. He closed his eyes and heard. " Guilty of all charges."


	13. I won't go alone

' Guilty.' Ulrich hated the word and everything it meant. He hated it, because he wasn't. Ulrich was innocent, not guilty. But still after hours of defending himself in court, the word 'guilty' was used to describe him. Ulrich fell back to his chair when he heard those words. The court room froze. Many of the people who were here thought Ulrich was guilty when he walked in, but not anymore, not after the trial. And yet the jury stood straight and said ' guilty' with a strait face.

" No." Ulrich silently whispered.

" Yes," William silently whispered to himself. William had won. William had hit Ulrich with a car, kidnaped, raped, and murdered Yumi, and shot Ulrich in the chest. And now Ulrich was going to jail instead of him. He was trying to hold back a smile. He couldn't hold it back. He grinned and chuckled to himself, " Yes," he said again.

" Ulrich Stern you will spend time in a juvenile delinquent center, then will make a transfer to prison when you turn eighteen where you shall serve the rest of you twenty year sentence. Court dismissed." He banged his hammer against the bench and let out a sigh. He hated his job. Everyone in the courtroom who were with Ulrich began to shout in anger. He was innocent, and they knew it. There was nothing they could do.

Ulrich put his head on the table and began to cry. He was crying because he was being charged for killing Yumi. Yumi, the woman he could never touch( Unless she let him), the woman he would do anything for. He was being sent to jail in substitution for the person who needed to go. He slammed his fisted against the table.

" No." He said again. No one could help him now. But then a loud voice broke through the commotion.

" MISTRIAL!" The voice shouted. The judge looked at the man who had shouted it.

" Who claims mistrial?" the judge asked the crowd.

" I do," Zack said standing up above everyone else.

" You need ten people to side with mistrial. If so another trial will be made."

" I second." Ulrich's father said, standing to his feet with Zack. Jeremie, Odd and Aelita rose up along with Ulrich's mother. All three Ishiyama's rose to their feet.

" That's nine."

" I plead in his defence." Said another man from behind the Sterns. It was the detective.

" Very well, we will have an hour recess then presume this."

Ulrich released a large sigh of relief when he heard those words. " Yes."

" Stop stalling," William said silently.

* * *

Ulrich and the others sat in the courtroom for an hour. They needed to think of a defence that could save Ulrich. After an hour, they couldn't think of anything that hadn't already been said. The judge came back into the room as everyone rose to their feet respectively. He sat down and so did everyone else.

" Alright, the defendant has the floor."

" Your honor," Zack said standing up from behind Ulrich. " May I speak for Mr. Sterns defence?"

" If he'll allow you," Zack looked to Ulrich who nodded at him, still not sure about what he was doing. " Proceed." Zack stepped onto the floor and looked at the crowd.

" I don't need much time, all I need is one witness to take the stand." The judge nodded, allowing this. " I would like to call William Dunbar to the stand." The crowd began to ask each other questions.

' Shit.' William said to himself when he heard his name. He stood to his feet and began to walk toward the door.

" He's leaving right now." William froze as everyone looked at him. William was thinking about running, but right then running wasn't a smart thing to do.

William swallowed hard and proceeded to the stand. Taking a seat, he looked at Ulrich, who was looking at Zack. ' What is he doing?' Ulrich asked himself. " William, how did know the victim of this case."

" I'm in her grade, we have a few classes together," William said, a lie with honesty.

" I've heard that she was your ex girlfriend."

" That's true," William said, knowing a few people in the room knew that fact.

" Why did she break up with you?" Zack asked him, walking toward the stand, looking straight at him.

" She was mad because I didn't like how much time she was spending with Ulrich."

" Why was she spending with him instead of you?" He asked, this going good for him so far.

" He was injured, and she visited him in the hospital very often."

" Did it make you angry?" Zack was toying with him, and William knew it.

" I'm not on trial."

" No one said you were. Now where were you when Yumi was kidnaped, eight through ten pm that night?"

" My dorm room."

" When did you hear she was killed?"

" Newspaper the next day."

" Why did you kill her?"

" I didn't kill her."

" No one said you did."

" I didn't kill her! I didn't kidnap her, nor did I rape her," William shot back because Zack was close. William hadn't realized he had said something bad. Zack smiled mentally.

" No one said she was raped." The crowd began to talk amongst themselves.

" Your honor, he's badgering the witness!" The prosecutor shouted.

" It's his witness." William was beginning to sweat. Zack almost had him, all he needed was just another little nudge.

" Well if someone had her alone for that long, I think that would happen," William said as his excuse.

" Are you saying you'd rape her given the chance?" William was really sweating now. He couldn't think properly now. Too many thoughts flooded his head, trying to fight their way out of his mouth first. " William, where were you the night Yumi was killed?"

" My room."

" Some of the students at Kadic said they saw you and Mr. Stern leaving campus in your car, in a hurry. They heard Mr. Stern saying, ' We need to hurry before it was too late.' What did you need to hurry too?" William was panicking now. Zack was cracking him. " Mr. Stern was found in the factory, but you were there with, weren't you."

" I gave him a ride, then left," he answered hoping Zack would shut up.

" Ulrich never mentioned that. But he did mention him and Yumi weren't alone. It was him, Yumi, and the real murderer." William was breathing deep now, he was angry and scared. " Why did you kill her?"

" She was supposed to love me!" William shouted at him.

" I'll take that as a confession. Your honor no more questions." The crowd broke out into talk. Zack had made William talk. Tell the people of the room what he did. Zack continued to walk as the judge looked at William shocked.

" Place him into custody. Jury how do you find Mr. Stern?"

" Innocent your honor."

" Case dismissed." The room broke out in cheer for Ulrich. Jeremie, Odd and Aelita hugged each other, as Ulrich looked up at Zack who smiled at him. The Mr and Mrs. Stern looked at Zack as well. To think for awhile they didn't trust him. Hiroki was happy, as was his parents. The real bastard was going down. Ulrich looked at William who was looking down. William had lost.

William didn't except the lose easily. A guard walked over to him with handcuffs and told William to put his hands behind his back. William started to before he spun around and hit the guard in the face. The guard fell back as William grabbed the gun from the guards belt and held it against everyone. Every guard in the courtroom aimed their guns at William who stood there ready. He had lost it, he had panicked. Everyone in the court room ducked down. Aiming the gun at Zack he was about to pull the trigger, before aiming it back at Ulrich.

Ulrich froze as William began to laugh. " I'm not going alone, see you in hell." He fired as the bullet made its way to Ulrich. Before it hit, someone knocked Ulrich to the ground and took the shot to the arm, falling next to him. Every guard fired at William who was hit several times in the chest. William's last breath was spent by aiming it at Ulrich was on the ground. Before he fired, was hit in the head. William's gun dropped out of his hand as he fell, knocking his head against the stand. Ulrich saw William hands hanging out around the corner, not moving.

The panic in the courtroom ended as most of the people left the room. The guards and the detective, who had fired the last shot, cautiously crept over to the stand to confirm that William was dead. Ulrich looked at the person next to him who had taken the shot. Helping Zack to a chair, someone called an ambulance as Zack was sent to the hospital. Ulrich sat in his chair as the detective walked over to him. He nodded to Ulrich and left him alone with his friend. Ulrich smiled for the first time in awhile. He was free, and William was dead.


	14. Everything will be alright

Ulrich was dropped of all charges after the courtroom incident. Yumi's death was placed on the shoulders of the correct person finally, and he got what he deserved. William was killed for killing Yumi. In the end when peace was there again, Ulrich was missing something to complete his life. He always figured he'd be happy when things slowed down, but when things were going fast, he lost who he wanted to slow down with. Yumi was torn away from his life, and not coming back. He accepted that fact, but not easily.

Several times for the next three weeks, he would stand over the sink with a bottle of sleeping pills in his hands. His would shake as he stood there, holding the pills. He's take a deep breath, the spill them into the sink. Sitting on his bed, he'd sit there and just think about her. Sighing deep he'd stand up and take a walk. After a walk he'd lay down some more, anything to take his mind off of it.

Ulrich would think about what would of happened if recent events hadn't taken place. Dating, marriage, kids, happyness. Then again, Yumi decided she only cared because he had almost died. So he decided to create a small story in his mind when he won her back. The thought made him smile.

* * *

Ulrich visited Zack while he was in the hospital from the gun shot. Zack had save his life. Then again he had almost taken it several times, but that was the past. No one knew xana anymore. Not even himself. Now he was just someone trying to find his place in the world like everyone else. Ulrich stepped into his hospital room seeing Zack on his bed with his left arm in a cast. Zack wasn't alone, his girlfriend was with him. She was a pretty, young red haired woman. Looking at her, she looked about twenty, and with Zack's age that he had set for himself, he was about five years older than her. She had graduated early from highschool and collage, and was already working at an executive possition at the same place Zack did.

" Hey Ulrich." Zack said as Ulrich walked into the room. " This is Sharon, my fiance." Ulrich froze. Sharon had a ring on her finger that Zack had given her a few minutes ago. Sharon smiled big when she heard that word.

" Congratulations. Thanks for saving me."

" Did what I had to. I wasn't going to let that psycopath win. You okay kid?"

" I'm better." Ulrich answered, knowing he meant the health of his heart and not his physical being. " Your actually getting married. Aren't you a bit young."

" He's older than me," Sharon said to him. Obviously she didn't get the joke. Technically xana was only a year old.

" Never mind, send me and invite."

" I will."

" You good?" Zack lifted his arm in a shrugged then kissed Sharon.

" Got all I need right here. Can we do something to pass the time?"

" We could play go fish," Ulrich said as a joke.

" I think I'll pass."

* * *

One day about a month after the case closed, Ulrich was laying on his bed. Hearing a knock on his door he stood up and answered it. Standing at his door was Hiroki Ishiyama. " Hey. What do you want?" Ulrich asked letting him in.

" Hey Ulrich, I just wanted to give you something." Hiroki pulled a book out of his backpack and handed it to Ulrich. The book was blue and had no label on the cover. Opening the first page Ulrich read, ' My diary, Yumi Ishiyama.'

Looking back at Hiroki he asked," Why are you giving me this?" It was Yumi's most prised possion. Her deepest secrets were placed in this book where she cut open her heart and spilled its blood on its pages. Sure he was always curious of what people wrote in them, who wasn't. But it didn't feel right.

" I figured you could make more use out of it that the rest of us." Ulrich looked down at hte book again. It's blue cover was shining from the light of his lamp, and he saw his reflection off it. It's pages were filled with things no one but Yumi was allowed to see. He had to face facts, Yumi was dead. She wasn't going to stop him. No one was going to. Ulrich nodded at Hiroki accepting the book. Hiroki nodded back and left the room, leaving Ulrich alone with Yumi's diary.

Decided it wasn't a good time to read it he threw it on his bed, which made it bounce up and hit the wall, opening it's pages and sliding to the other side of his bed. Swearing to himself he picked the book up and watched as a picture fell out of it. Closing the book and softly laying it on the bed, he flipped over the picture and looked at it. It was picture of him. It was a picture he gave her last year for a project that she need to complete in art. She had scanned the picture and made it bigger for the assignment, drawing on his face. He thought her project was funny, but he had forgotten to ask for the picture back. It made him think, why was he in her diary?

Deciding to open it he flipped it to the first page and read.

" _Dear diary, this is my fifth diary that I've started since I was five. I'm thirteen now! Hurray thirteen, big number, teenager." _Flipping the page a few times he kept reading. " _I meet a kid named Jeremie today. He's kinda cute, but nothing else. He's helping me with my homework, even though he's two years younger than me. 'Smart ass.' He has a few strange friends, like Odd. At first I thought it was his nickname because let's face it, his name fits his personality. Then there's one more person I met as well. His name is Ulrich." _Ulrich looked closer at the page. Seeing his name got him curious, "_He's really, really, really times an impossibly large number cute. He's strangely really nice to. Not many cute people are nice. Maybe he doesn't know how cute he is."_

For several hours he read her diary. Ulrich would scan a page for his name then start reading. After reliazing his name was on almost every page, he just read it like it was a story.

" _Jeremie wants to go check out that abandoned factory for some reason. The four of us go, and what we find you'll never believe." _Ulrich skipped bit, he knew what happened next.

" _Lyoko is such an amazing place. Aelita is so nice to. She's a computer program within lyoko, and right now Jeremie is trying to find a way to bring her into the real world." _Ulrich skipped a couple dozen pages.

" _I almost kissed him today. He saved me, and right then I just looked into his eyes and something told me to lean in. But Jeremie did a return to the past. Talk about a mood killer. I hope Ulrich's relationship ends bad so I can get him off the rebound. Yes I'm that desperate."_

Odd came into the room and Ulrich put the book away, telling him it was his diary, and told him to drop the subject. Recently Odd didn't even get into a joke, because Ulrich wouldn't find it funny. Neither did Odd really anymore. He couldn't be as happy as he normally was. There was finally a reason to grow up, and Odd had grown up quickly. One second everything was perfect, the five were immortal. Then one second, boom, mortality and imperfection. When Odd went to sleep Ulrich snuck out that night, and went to a private place to read the book.

" _Something bad happened today. Xana escaped, and we don't know what we're going to do. I hope Jeremie figures something out fast. But most of all, I don't want Ulrich to go away. I feel safe around him. Comfortable even with all of the awkward moments the two of us have had. School ends soon, but Ulrich will be going home till next year. Never thought I'd say this but summer sucks." _

_" Summer is over, and we are wondering what is keeping xana from not attacking. He's had all the time in the world, and still nothing."_

_" We did it. We got xana back in the computer. Ulrich saved me again. But now we are making an agreement with him, and a few days ago the agreement came into affect."_

Skipping pages again, Ulrich stopped when he saw a few bold words.

" **_I'm tired of waiting for him!_ **_Ulrich is a coward when it comes to love. So I'm going to give him a little nudge. I'm going to agree to go out with William. Maybe it will make him crack and do something." _

_" It worked, but I forgot to do something. I forgot that I'm not going out with William because I like him, but because I like Ulrich. I said something really mean to. God I hate myself."_

_" Ulrich was hit by a car, and It's my fault. I said I wish he was dead, and now look at what I've done. Dammit Yumi. I'll visit him everyday to make it better."_

_" I broke up with William today. Not like I was really going out with him, but hey. Ulrich has a slim chance of living."_

_" He's going to live can't wait till he wakes up."_

_" He woke up, but he has amnesia. I'm helping him remember things now. He's being really open with me on things he remembers. I'm really enjoying the time we're spending together. He should get it by a car more often. ( Just joking, karma don't take it seriously!)"_

_" He got out of the hospital yesterday. I'm going to his room today to help him with the homework he missed. But not just that. I'm going to tell him today. Tell him that I love him. I love him so much. I realized that when I went back and read my diary. As much as I complain about him, he's also the only thing I write about. I love him, Always have I guess, but now I'm sure. And if I die today at least he'll know that I did. I'll die happy knowing he knows."_

Ulrich closed the book. It was the last page in the book that she had filled. A small tear was running down Ulrich's face now. She loved him. She actually loved him, and only him. Smiling Ulrich looked up to the sky, looking at the moon. " I know Yumi. I know."

* * *

_**Twenty five years later...**_

Ulrich Stern, age thirty eight was driving the his car with his eight year old daughter in the passenger seat next to him. " Where are we going?" His daughter asked him.

" Visiting a friend." Ulrich said to her. He kept driving and then stopped the car. Stepping out of the car he took his daughters hand and the two walked into a cemetary that was covered with dead leaves from the fall season. Ulrich liked fall, the changes of the world took place then. he wasn't afraid of change, he rather enjoyed it. Stepping through the leaves he stopped at large gravestone. It was knee high, and Ulrich crouched next to it.

His daughter looked at the stone and said," Hey, this person and I have the same name."

" I know. I named you after her Yumi."

" That's how I got my name?" Ulrich nodded as his daughter read the grave.

" _Here lies Yumi Ishiyama,_

_greatest friend anyone could ask for,_

_greatest daughter any parent coud hope for,_

_greatest lover anyone could love."_

Ulrich had added the last part himself. Kissing his palm he pressed it against her name and said, " I love you Yumi. I still haven't forgotten." Ulrich had married after that, and had kids. But never forgot about the first girl he ever loved, and the one he still did. A small tear ran down his cheek just thinking about her.

" You okay dad?" Yumi asked her father.

Ulrich looked at her with a smile and said, " I'm fine Yumi. Everything is just fine."


	15. Deleted Scenes

A story like this one took a lot of brain storming and ideas to create. It took me a month before I even beganto think of how the beginning should be played out. After I thought I had a working plot, I started from there. For the most part there weren't any alternate events because I was kinda improvising as I went along, but the ending I did have a few other ideas.

_**Alternate endings...**_

1. The original idea I had was that Ulrich actually did attempt suicide. It made a little more since. You know, ' As you wish' then dives to his doom. To be honest though, I don't like the idea of Ulrich being suicidal. Even though I've read stories where he's, suicidal, homicidal, rapist, thief, you know, a bad guy, and liked them. After Ulrich remembered about the night, Yumi showed up to the hospital and saw he was gone. She went to find him and when she did, he was standing on a bridge about to kill himself. Yumi talked him out of it, telling him she didn't mean it, and that she loved him. End. I figured that was a little cliche, something I don't like being so went with what the story is now.

2. I had the idea of William being the bad guy, but Yumi not dying. She was raped and kidnaped, but William didn't inject her with the poison. In the struggle, William injected Ulrich, who died. During the struggle the police showed up, and arrested William. This was the one I was actually writing before I thought of the other one. I had it down, and did it over but saved it in case I changed my mind. ( If you want a copy of it, e-mail me.)

3. Believe it or not, I never even thought about Xana/Zack going bad. I liked who I had turned him into and decided to make him good all the way. Even saving Ulrich's ass in the final draft. I figured it was a strange thought as Xana being a good guy, but an unsuspected and creative thought that made people go, " now that's a good idea."

_**Sequels...**_

Nightmares of the past is my sequel to as you wish. It focuses around Ulrich and his daughter who he named Yumi to honor her. Eight year old Yumi Stern is kidnaped and the kidnaper gives him a set of clues one after another to find her. Currently doing fairly well. Nearly half the amount of reviews, 1500 hits, 14 favs, 12 alerts, 1 c2. But I liked the original better so far. The original is always better.

_A new virtual era._ Is the title of a soon to be released story by the writer who's pen name is DanMat6288. I have given him full permission to write it, and he's working on it. He's sent me two chapters and I say go for it. He'll clear all the chapters with me before he releases them, via email. I'll give you the summery he gave me through email.

A once abandoned world will be returned to life, those who have died will return in demon and angelic forms, one child will fulfill his destiny without realizing it until it's done, and a once demonic artificial intelligence will have his place taken by another.

When it comes out I suggest you check it out.

_**Spin offs...**_

I do have a spin off for this. If any of you have read the recent updates in my profile, you know what it is, if not here it is. In as you wish, xana is a human because of the deal he made with the group. In this one, the same thing happens, just that's the focus of the story, not a side plot not really gone into detail with.

Xana is created into a eleven year old boy who starts to attend Kadic. The gang is supposed to help him adjust to being human. He manages fairly well, until a new emotion comes into play. Love. The gang starts to help him get the girl.

This will be submitted when I finish a few other stories like Nightmares of the past and Lessons of trust( Which is almost done. One chapter to go!) Give it a few weeks, I need to brainstorm a plot and title. Yes, I don't even have a title yet.

_**Stats...**_

Chapters-15

Reviews-154, as of now.

Hits-3453 as of now

c2s-2

Favorites-22

Alerts-18

That ends the behind the scenes look at the creation of As you wish.


	16. Alternate Ending

**_Over the last year after I finished the initial story, I told people they could get a copy of the alternate ending, and so after awhile, this is what I should have done in the first place. So now it is here, you don't have to ask me for it._**

* * *

Ulrich had not time to lose. Running across the bridge of the factory Ulrich made his way in and stopped when he reached the drop.

" Yumi!" Ulrich shouted, hearing his voice bounce off the walls and hit him back. Hearing nothing but silence he shouted her name again. Again nothing. Running to the edge he grabbed the rope and swung down, landing next to the destroyed elevator shaft. He checked his watch, three minutes.

" Dammit," Ulrich said to himself. Then he heard a noise. He couldn't identify what it was, but he no better place to look, so began to run in that direction. Reaching the stairs that lead to the second floor of the factory. Running by and checking the rooms as he ran by, he came to the end of the hall and came to a locked door.

Ulrich rammed the door a few times with his shoulder and discovered it was too strong to break. Looking around he saw a fire axe and took it out of the glass case. Going back to the door he swung at the door knob and snapped it off on the first try and the door slowly swung open. Taking the axe with him he ran into the empty room.

" Oh come on," Ulrich said aloud. The he heard the noise again. Looking around the room he saw another door and ran that way. Grabbing the knob he turned it open and looked inside. The first thing he saw made him drop the axe. " Yumi."

Yumi was tied to a chair, her wrists and ankles bound by duct tape, and her body and arms bound by rope that was becoming loose. She looked unharmed but with her being unconscious it was hard to see how bad she was. Running over to her Ulrich grabbed her shoulder and began to shake her.

" Yumi, wake up," Ulrich said to her. " Yumi please, wake up," he said crying when she didn't even move. " No."

" She's alive, don't you worry," said a mans voice from the shadows in the corner. Ulrich turned her head and saw the man. He was wearing black head to toe, with his black mask still on. In his hand was a cigarette and a light that he kept clicking off and on. That's the sound Ulrich had heard.

" What did you do to her?" Ulrich asked.

" Put her into a chemical induced sleep, and before that had fun," The man said to him.

" You didn't touch her," Ulrich said to him.

" Oh I did. Had a lot of fun too. Those japs sure are tight," the man said to Ulrich with a sickening grin. Ulrich charged the man who a moment later pulled out a gun.

" Oh no you don't," The man said to him. " I'm going to have a little chat with you."

" Why me, why her?" Ulrich asked.

" I love Yumi, and so do you. Only one person can love her, and that's me. She picked you, and not me," The man answered. Ulrich suddenly realized the voice sounded familiar. Looking at the man in the eye, he knew who it was.

" William?" Ulrich asked. William smiled then took his mask of.

" Took you long enough," William said.

" So what are you going to do now?" Ulrich asked him. William cocked the gun then aimed it at Ulrich.

" Take a wild guess." To they're left Yumi groaned and began to open her eyes, making William look at her. Ulrich took that chance and charged. William faced Ulrich a second later, and fired. It missed and Ulrich sent his fist into William's face, sending him wobbling from the hit. Ulrich kicked the gun out of his hand and away and began to try and restrain William.

William elbowed Ulrich in the face, who fell to his back and William went for the gun. Ulrich quickly reached out and hooked Williams foot with his own making him fall to the ground. Ulrich got onto William's back and pushed his chest against the ground. William kicked backward and hit Ulrich's spine with his heel, causing Ulrich to sprawl over him. Ulrich rolled and landed next to the gun and grabbed it.

When he turned around the first thing he saw was William's fist into his face. Ulrich fell back and hit the wall hard, knocking the wind out of him. William grabbed Ulrich's wrist and began to try and fight Ulrich for the gun. Ulrich spun hoping he'd let go, but William stayed with him. William head butted Ulrich who wobbled back, with the gun still in both of their hands. On accident Ulrich hit the button and the ammo clip fell out and to the floor.

Ulrich let go of the gun and drove William into the wall with his shoulder. Punching him in the stomach William let out a grunt, then caught Ulrich's next punch. Pushing Ulrich back he tried to punch him, but Ulrich ducked under the blow and wrapped his arms around his lower stomach and charged him into a shelf on the wall. Items on the shelf fell to the floor from the collision, after which Ulrich punched him in the stomach again.

William kicked Ulrich away from the shelf and swung, but Ulrich blocked it and sent the opposite hand to her face. William spun and hit the shelf with his chest. He was breathing deep and angry. Ulrich was winning this fight. William was about to turn around and try again before he saw his bag on the shelf. Inside was a syringe still filled with a yellow liquid. Grabbing the syringe he kept facing away from Ulrich.

" Come on William, you give up?" Ulrich said to him, ready to keep fighting.

" Nope, I still got some fight," William said to him, turning around, holding the syringe behind back. " Bring it."

Ulrich charged and swung for William's face, but William ducked under the punch, then stabbed Ulrich in the chest with the syringe. Pushing it down he injected Ulrich with the unknown yellow fluid. Almost instantly, Ulrich felt weaker. Falling to a knee Ulrich pulled the syringe out and looked at it.

" What did you inject me with?" Ulrich asked, because he was already pretty bad.

" My home made poison. It'll shut down your central nervous system them work up to your brain that will forget to perform the vital functions, like breathing, body temperature, heartbeat, and then you'll die," William answered looking at Ulrich.

Ulrich tried to stand but wobbled to the side as he tried to breathe. It was getting harder. Hitting the ground the room began to spin around him. He was getting tired as his vision became blurred. William walked over and kicked Ulrich in the ribs while he was down, making Ulrich roll over toward the door. Ulrich began to crawl toward the door and William kicked him again, making him get closer to it.

Ulrich got to his knees and saw something on the ground. Reaching for it, William wrapped his arms around Ulrich's neck and began to strangle him, making is lack of oxygen go faster. Ulrich desperately reached for the item on the ground, his only hope.

" Do you know what I'm going to do after I kill you. I'm going to rape her again, and again, and again, just because I can," William said to him.

Ulrich still have some wit left in him, got angry and reached that last inch for the item. Grabbing the handle of the axe he swung it over his head and stabbed it into William's back. William froze when he felt it stab into him, between both shoulder blades. Slowly releasing Ulrich he fell to the side with the axe still in him.

Blood ran out of his mouth as he tried to speak. " I'll see you in hell," William said, before his last breath was made.

Ulrich got to his feet and slowly slid his feet across the floor to Yumi was still waking up. " Yumi," Ulrich said to her as she was regaining consciousness. Ulrich undid her restraints as Yumi's vision and hearing became clearer.

" Ulrich," she said to him, standing up off her chair. Almost falling she kept herself balanced before she face planted. Looking at Ulrich, she saw that he was pale for some reason. " Ulrich?"

" I'm fine," Ulrich said to her. Ulrich then fell to the ground, cold and limp. Yumi went to her knees next to him.

" You're not fine, what happened to you?" Yumi asked. Looking around the room she saw William dead on the floor feet away from her. " It was William," Yumi said aloud.

" He said he poisoned me," Ulrich said, trying to stand, but not getting too far.

" Stay down I'll get help," Yumi said crying. Getting her phone out she called the police. Placing her phone on the ground next to her she leaned down to Ulrich and looked at his face. It was getting paler.

Ulrich closed his eyes and Yumi shook him awake. " No, stay awake," Yumi said to him.

" Can I ask you a question Yumi?" he asked stressfully. Yumi nodded, as a few tears landed around him. " Why did you start dating him?" Yumi began to think about how she could tell him. Looking at him, he didn't have much time. Maybe seconds left.

" I started to date him to make you crack, and make a move on me. I started to date him, not because I liked him, but because I liked you. Because I loved you."

Ulrich looked at Yumi as his vision got blurrier. " You what?" Yumi leaned down and kissed him. His lips were cold.

" I was going to tell you in your room, but I couldn't get to it. I love you. Always have," Yumi said to him. Ulrich smiled then coughed.

" I love you too Yumi. Glad I got to know that before this happened," Ulrich said with a smiled. " Yumi...good...bye." Ulrich closed his eyes as everything stopped.

" Ulrich," Yumi said to him softly and sadly. It was too late. He was dead. Yumi lay her head on his chest and began to cry deeply. " Ulrich."

Yumi was alone with Ulrich's dead body before the police arrived to see two dead teenagers and the missing girl. It took three officers to pry Yumi away from Ulrich's corpse. Yumi sat in the back of an ambulance with a blanket around her. A minute later Her parents ran out of a car and both hugged her at the same time. They were so glad to see her alive and unharmed for the most part. Her mental being more damaged than the physical.

* * *

Months past after that night. Yumi had taken several hours of therapy to get over the rape. Nightmares haunted her dreams for a few weeks, but Ulrich hurt her more. He was dead and not coming back. Everyday at school she'd sit there, and look up, and not see him looking at her, then look away because she caught him. Every now and then she'd see his image smile at her then vanish.

Occasionally she'd be walking and turn and around, and swear she saw him hide behind something. She knew she was seeing things. Sitting on her bed when she got home she looked out her window and looked down. She saw her backyard, her pool, then him. He was standing just how he was that night. Yumi shut her blinds then let out a tear.

" Your hallucinating, Yumi," she said to herself then turned around. He was on her bed this time.

" Don't be sad Yumi," Ulrich said to her. She knew she had to be seeing things.

" Ulrich, are you, dead?" she asked him, just in case.

" Yeah, I'm gone. You saw me die. Yumi you can't grieve over me forever. Look something I want more than to be with you, is to see you happy. You're not happy right now."

" Come on Ulrich, I'm only happy when I was with you," Yumi said, crying.

" Yumi, I will always be with you. Love is a bond beyond the grave. If you never forget me, never forget who I was and that I loved you and you loved me, I will never die. I'll be here always Yumi," Ulrich said placing his hand on his chest.

Yumi looked at him then managed to stop crying. " Promise me you'll never forget me," Ulrich said to her.

" I promise Ulrich." Yumi answered with a smile.

" See you around. And remember, I'm always with you." Then he vanished. Yumi sat on her bed then smiled.

" I promise."

_I didn't think the whole Ulrich's ghost thing was a good idea, so I went with the other. Tell me what you think._


End file.
